Neurotransmitters and methods of making the same

ABSTRACT

In an aspect, the disclosure provides methods for making neurotransmitters in a host organism. The neurotransmitters can be cannabinoids and derivatives of cannabinoids. The host cells can be microalgae, fungi or other host cells. In a related aspect, the disclosure provides host cells engineered to have biochemical pathways for making neurotransmitters such as cannabinoids.

This application is continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 15/971,893 filed May 4, 2018, which claims priority to U.S. provisional application Ser. No. 62/501,747 filed May 5, 2017.

REFERENCE TO SEQUENCE LISTING, TABLE OR COMPUTER PROGRAM

The official copy of the Sequence Listing is submitted concurrently with the specification as an ASCII formatted text file via EFS-Web, with a file name of “PUR0005_ST25.txt”, a creation date of Apr. 28, 2017, and a size of 97 kilobytes. The Sequence Listing filed via EFS-Web is part of the specification and is incorporated in its entirety by reference herein.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Neurotransmitters are chemical compounds that act as chemical messengers enabling neurotransmission. Neurotransmitters transmit signals across a chemical synapse from one neuron (nerve cell) to another “target” neuron, muscle cell, or gland cell. Neurotransmitters are released from synaptic vesicles in synapses into the synaptic cleft, where they are received by receptors on the target cells. Many neurotransmitters are synthesized from simple and plentiful precursors such as amino acids, which are readily available from the diet and only require a small number of biosynthetic steps for conversion. The exact number of neurotransmitters is unknown, but more than 100 chemical messengers have been uniquely identified.

One class of neurotransmitters are the cannabinoids which are a diverse class of chemical compounds that act on cannabinoid receptors inducing intracellular cascades that affect neural activity and alter neurotransmitter release from cells in the brain. Humans and other animals naturally make cannabinoids that act on these receptors. Other neurotransmitters that can act on the cannabinoid receptors are phytocannabinoids made in plants and synthetic or artificial cannabinoids.

There are two known types of cannabinoid receptors termed CB₁ and CB₂. Both CB1 and CB2 signal through the transducing G proteins, G₁ and G₀ and their activation by cannabinoids or other agonists causes the inhibition of adenylyl cyclase activity, the closing of voltage-gated calcium channels, the opening of inwardly rectifying potassium channels, and the stimulation of mitogen-activated protein kinases such as ERK and focal adhesion kinases (FAKs) (Mackie, K. 2006. Cannabinoid receptors as therapeutic targets. Annual Review of Pharmacology and Toxicology 46:101-122). The cannabinoid receptors are the most plentiful G protein-coupled receptor in the human brain. CB₁ receptors are found primarily in the brain, more specifically in the basal ganglia and in the limbic system, including the hippocampus and the striatum. In mammals, high concentrations of CB1 receptors are found in areas that regulate appetite, memory, fear extinction, and motor responses. They are also found in the cerebellum and in both male and female reproductive systems. CB₁ is also found in the human anterior eye and retina. CB1 is also found in a number of other non-neural tissues, including gastrointestinal tract, adipocytes, liver, and skeletal muscle. CB₂ receptors are predominantly found in the immune system, or immune-derived cells with the greatest density in the spleen. CB₂ receptors are also expressed by a subpopulation of microglia, osteoclasts, and osteoblasts in the human cerebellum. CB₂ receptors may be responsible for anti-inflammatory and other therapeutic effects of Cannabis seen in animal models.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In an aspect, the disclosure describes methods for making neurotransmitters using microalgae. In some embodiments, the neurotransmitters made by the microalgae are cannabinoids such as, for example, cannabigerolic acid (CBGA), cannabichromenic acid (CBCA), cannabidiolic acid (CBDA), tetrahydrocannabinolic acid (THCA), cannabigerovarinic acid (CBGVA), cannabidivarinic acid (CBDVA), cannabichromevarinic acid (CBCVA), or tetrahydrocannabivarinic acid (THCVA). When hexanoic acid (or other six carbon precursor) is used as precursor the microalgae can make CBGA, CBCA, CBDA and THCA. When butyric acid (or other four carbon precursor) is used as precursor the microalgae can make CBGVA, CBDVA, CBCVA, and THCVA.

In an aspect, the microalgae are engineered to express hexanoyl-CoA synthase, 3,5,7-trioxododecanoyl-CoA synthase, olivetolic acid cyclase (or 3,5,7-trioxododecanoyl-CoA CoA-lyase), and geranyl-diphosphate:olivetolate geranyltransferase. These enzymes make cannabigerolic acid (CBGA) from hexanoic acid (or hexanoate) as follows. Hexanoic acid is reacted with CoA to make hexanoyl-CoA by the enzyme hexanoyl-CoA synthase. Hexanoyl-CoA and three malonyl-CoA react to make 3,5,7-trioxododecanoyl-CoA using the enzyme 3,5,7-trioxododecanoyl-CoA synthase. 3,5,7-trioxododecanoyl-CoA reacts to form olivetolic acid using the enzyme 3,5,7-trioxododecanoyl-CoA CoA-lyase (or olivetolic acid cyclase). Olivetolic acid and geranylpyrophosphate react to form cannabigerolic acid (CBGA) using the enzyme geranyl-diphosphate:olivetolate geranyltransferase. These enzymes can also make cannabigerovarinic acid (CBGVA) from butyric acid (or butyrate) as follows. Butyric acid and CoA react to make butyryl-CoA using the enzyme hexanoyl-CoA synthase. Butyryl-CoA and 3 malonyl-CoA react to make 3,5,7-trioxodecanoyl-CoA using the enzyme 3,5,7-trioxododecanoyl-CoA synthase. 3,5,7-trioxodecanoyl-CoA reacts to form divarinic acid using the enzyme olivetolic acid cyclase. Divarinic acid and geranylpyrophosphate react to form cannabigerovarinic acid (CBGVA) using the enzyme geranyl-diphosphate:olivetolate geranyltransferase.

In an alternative aspect, the microalgae are engineered to express one or more substitute enzymes for hexanoyl-CoA synthase, 3,5,7-trioxododecanoyl-CoA synthase, 3,5,7-trioxododecanoyl-CoA CoA-lyase (or olivetolic acid cyclase), and geranyl-diphosphate:olivetolate geranyltransferase. These microalgae with the one or more substitute enzymes can also be used to make CBGA from hexanoic acid and/or CBGVA from butyric acid.

In one aspect, the microalgae are also engineered to express cannabichromenic acid synthase. In this aspect, the microalgae make cannabichromenic acid (CBCA) from CBGA, and/or cannabichromevarinic acid (CBCVA) from CBGVA using the enzyme cannabichromenic acid synthase.

In one aspect, the microalgae are also engineered to express cannabidiolic-acid synthase. In this aspect, the microalgae make cannabidiolic acid (CBDA) from CBGA, and/or cannabidivarinic acid (CBDVA) from CBGVA using the enzyme cannabidiolic-acid synthase.

In one aspect, the microalgae are also engineered to express Δ1-tetrahydrocannabinolic acid synthase. In this aspect, the microalgae make tetrahydrocannabinolic acid (THCA) from CBGA, and/or tetrahydrocannabivarinic acid (THCVA) from CBGVA using the enzyme Δ1-tetrahydrocannabinolic acid synthase.

In an alternative aspect, the microalgae are engineered to express two or more of cannabichromenic acid synthase, cannabidiolic-acid synthase, and Δ1-tetrahydrocannabinolic acid synthase.

The disclosure also describes nucleic acids encoding the enzymes described above. These nucleic acids include expression constructs for expressing the enzymes in microalgae. The nucleic acids encoding the enzymes can be codon optimized for the microalgae. The nucleic acids can encode a hexanoyl-CoA synthase that is SEQ ID NO: 1, a 3,5,7-trioxododecanoyl-CoA synthase that is SEQ ID NO: 2, a 3,5,7-trioxododecanoyl-CoA CoA-lyase (olivetolic acid cyclase) that is SEQ ID NO: 3, a geranyl-diphosphate:olivetolate geranyltransferase that is SEQ ID NO: 4, a cannabichromenic acid synthase that is SEQ ID NO: 5, a cannabidiolic acid synthase that is SEQ ID NO: 6, and/or a Δ1-tetrahydrocannabinolic acid synthase that is SEQ ID NO: 7. The nucleic acids can encode a polypeptide that has 70%, 80%, 90%, 95% or 99% sequence identity with one of SEQ ID NOs: 1-7. Nucleic acids may also include those that hybridize under stringent hybridization conditions to a nucleic acid encoding one of SEQ ID NOs: 1-7. The nucleic acids can encode one or more of hexanoyl-CoA synthase, 3,5,7-trioxododecanoyl-CoA synthase, olivetolic acid cyclase, geranyl-diphosphate:olivetolate geranyltransferase, cannabichromenic acid synthase, cannabidiolic acid synthase, and Δ1-tetrahydrocannabinolic acid synthase; or the nucleic acids can encode one of SEQ ID NOs: 1-7; hybridize under stringent hybridization conditions with a nucleic acid encoding one of SEQ ID NOs: 1-7; or encode a polypeptide that has 70%, 80%, 90%, 95% or 99% sequence identity with one of SEQ ID NOs: 1-7.

In an aspect, the polypeptide disclosed include one or more of hexanoyl-CoA synthase, 3,5,7-trioxododecanoyl-CoA synthase, olivetolic acid cyclase, geranyl-diphosphate:olivetolate geranyltransferase, cannabichromenic acid synthase, cannabidiolic-acid synthase, and Δ1-tetrahydrocannabinolic acid synthase. Polypeptides can include polypeptides that have 70%, 80%, 90%, 95% or 99% sequence identity with one of SEQ ID NOs: 1-7. Polypeptides can include polypeptides encoded by nucleic acids that hybridize under stringent hybridization conditions with a nucleic acid encoding one of SEQ ID NOs: 1-7. Polypeptides can include hexanoyl-CoA synthase, 3,5,7-trioxododecanoyl-CoA synthase, olivetolic acid cyclase, geranyl-diphosphate:olivetolate geranyltransferase, cannabichromenic acid synthase, cannabidiolic-acid synthase, and Δ1-tetrahydrocannabinolic acid synthase; or one of SEQ ID NOs: 1-7; or polypeptides encoded by nucleic acids that hybridize under stringent hybridization conditions with a nucleic acid encoding one of SEQ ID NOs: 1-7; or polypeptides that have 70%, 80%, 90%, 95% or 99% sequence identity with one of SEQ ID NOs: 1-7. The coding sequence can comprise a plastid targeting sequence from microalgae, and the microalgae can be a species of the genus Prototheca or Chlorella as well as other genera from the family Chlorellaceae. The plastid targeting sequence can have at least 20, 25, 35, 45, or 55% amino acid sequence identity to one or more of SEQ ID NOs: 11-14 and can be capable of targeting a protein encoded by an exogenous gene not located in the plastid genome to the plastid.

Host cells can contain the nucleic acids and/or polypeptides described above and herein. The host cell can be an algae species and/or a photosynthetic, or non-photosynthetic, microorganism from Agmenellum, Amphora, Anabaena, Ankistrodesmus, Asterochloris, Asteromonas, Astephomene, Auxenochlorella, Basichlamys, Botryococcus, Botryokoryne, Boekelovia, Borodinella, Brachiomonas, Catena, Carteria, Chaetoceros, Chaetophora, Characiochloris, Characiosiphon, Chlainomonas, Chlamydomonas, Chlorella, Chlorochytrium, Chlorococcum, Chlorogonium, Chloromonas, Chrysosphaera, Closteriopsis, Cricosphaera, Cryptomonas, Cyclotella, Dictyochloropsis, Dunaliella, Ellipsoidon, Eremosphaera, Eudorina, Euglena, Fragilaria, Floydiella, Friedmania, Haematococcus, Hafniomonas, Heterochlorella, Gleocapsa, Gloeothamnion, Gonium, Halosarcinochlamys, Hymenomonas, Isochrysis, Koliella, Lepocinclis, Lobocharacium, Lobochlamys, Lobomonas, Lobosphaera, Lobosphaeropsis, Marvania, Monoraphidium, Myrmecia, Nannochloris, Nannochloropsis, Navicula, Nephrochloris, Nitschia, Nitzschia, Ochromonas, Oocystis, Oogamochlamys, Oscillatoria, Pabia, Pandorina, Parietochloris, Pascheria, Phacotus, Phagus, Phormidium, Platydorina, Platymonas, Pleodorina, Pleurochrysis, Polulichloris, Polytoma, Polytomella, Prasiola, Prasiolopsis, Prasiococcus, Prototheca, Pseudochlorella, Pseudocarteria, Pseudotrebouxia, Pteromonas, Pyrobotrys, Rosenvingiella, Scenedesmus, Schizotrichium, Spirogyra, Stephanosphaera, Tetrabaena, Tetraedron, Tetraselmis, Thraustochytrium, Trebouxia, Trochisciopsis, Ulkenia, Viridiella, Vitreochlamys, Volvox, Volvulina, Vulcanochloris, Watanabea, or Yamagishiella. The host cell can be Botryococcus braunii, Prototheca krugani, Prototheca moriformis, Prototheca portoricensis, Prototheca stagnora, Prototheca wickerhamii, Prototheca zopfii, or Schizotrichium sp. The host cell can be a fungi species from Aciculoconidium, Ambrosiozyma, Arthroascus, Arxiozyma, Ashbya, Aspergillus, Babjevia, Bensingtonia, Botryoascus, Botryozyma, Brettanomyces, Bullera, Bulleromyces, Candida, Chlamydomonas, Chrysosporium, Citeromyces, Clavispora, Cryptococcus, Cystofilobasidium, Debaryomyces, Dekkara, Dipodascopsis, Dipodascus, Eeniella, Endomycopsella, Eremascus, Eremothecium, Erythrobasidium, Fellomyces, Filobasidium, Fusarium, Galactomyces, Geotrichum, Guilliermondella, Hanseniaspora, Hansenula, Holtermannia, Hormoascus, Hyphopichia, Issatchenkia, Kloeckera, Kloeckeraspora, Kluyveromyces, Kondoa, Kuraishia, Kurtzmanomyces, Leucosporidium, Lipomyces, Lodderomyces, Malassezia, Metschnikowia, Mrakia, Myxozyma, Nadsonia, Nakazawaea, Nematospora, Neotyphodium, Neurospora, Ogataea, Oosporidium, Pachysolen, Penicillium, Phachytichospora, Phaffia, Pichia, Rhodosporidium, Rhodotorula, Saccharomyces, Saccharomycodes, Saccharomycopsis, Saitoella, Sakaguchia, Saturnospora, Schizoblastosporion, Schizosaccharomyces, Schwanniomyces, Sporidiobolus, Sporobolomyces, Sporopachydermia, Stephanoascus, Sterigmatomyces, Sterigmatosporidium, Symbiotaphrina, Sympodiomyces, Sympodiomycopsis, Torulaspora, Trichoderma, Trichosporiella, Trichosporon, Trigonopsis, Tsuchiyaea, Udeniomyces, Waltomyces, Wickerhamia, Wickerhamiella, Williopsis, Xanthophyllomyces, Yamadazyma, Yarrowia, Zygoascus, Zygosaccharomyces, Zygowilliopsis, and Zygozyma, among others. The fungi host cell can be Candida albicans, Chrysosporium lucknowense, Fusarium graminearum, Fusarium venenatum, Hansenula polymorpha, Kluyveromyces lactis, Neurospora crassa, Pichia angusta, Pichia finlandica, Pichia kodamae, Pichia membranaefaciens, Pichia methanolica, Pichia opuntiae, Pichia pastoris, Pichia pijperi, Pichia quercuum, Pichia salictaria, Pichia thermotolerans, Pichia trehalophila, Pichia stipitis, Streptomyces ambofaciens, Streptomyces aureofaciens, Streptomyces aureus, Saccaromyces bayanus, Saccaromyces boulardi, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Schizosaccharomyces pompe, Streptomyces fungicidicus, Streptomyces griseochromogenes, Streptomyces griseus, Streptomyces lividans, Streptomyces olivogriseus, Streptomyces rameus, Streptomyces tanashiensis, Streptomyces vinaceus, Trichoderma reesei and Xanthophyllomyces dendrorhous (formerly Phaffia rhodozyma), or a filamentous fungi, e.g. Trichoderma, Aspergillus sp., including Aspergillus nidulans, Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus oryzae, Aspergillus phoenicis, Aspergillus carbonarius. The host cell can be a strain of the species Prototheca moriformis, Prototheca krugani, Prototheca stagnora or Prototheca zopfii and in other embodiment the cell has a 16S rRNA sequence with at least 70, 75, 80, 85, 90, 95 or 99% sequence identity (Ewing A, et al (2014) J. Phycol. 50: 765-769).

In an aspect, oils obtained from algae host cells and methods of obtaining the oils are disclosed by the specification. For example, a method for producing an oil or oil-derived product involves cultivating the host cell and extracting the oil, optionally wherein the cultivation is heterotrophic growth on sugar. Optionally, a fatty acid, cannabinoid, chemical or other oil-derived product can be produced from the oil. Optionally, the oil is produced in microalgae and can lack C24-alpha sterols.

In additional embodiments the invention include cannabinoid oil compositions as well as cells containing cannabinoid oil compositions comprising a lipid profile of at least 1% cannabinoid and one or more of the following attributes: 0.1-0.4 micrograms/ml total carotenoids, less than 0.4 micrograms/ml total carotenoids, less than 0.001 micrograms/ml lycopene; less than 0.02 micrograms/ml beta carotene, less than 0.02 milligrams of chlorophyll per kilogram of oil; 0.40-0.60 milligrams of gamma tocopherol per 100 grams of oil; 0.2-0.5 milligrams of total tocotrienols per gram of oil, less than 0.4 milligrams of total tocotrienols per gram of oil, 4-8 mg per 100 grams of oil of campesterol, and 40-60 mg per 100 grams of oil of stigmasterol.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates the time course for growth of Prototheca moriformis strain UTEX1435 grown on sugar supplemented with indicated concentrations of hexanoic acid.

FIG. 2 illustrates biosynthesis of olivetolic acid in Prototheca moriformis. HPLC chromatograms (AU 270 nM) of representative wild-type R2 (FIG. 2A) and R2 transformed with pU092 (SEQ ID NO: 15) (FIG. 2B) strains demonstrate biosynthesis of olivetolic acid transgenic R2-pU092 microalgae. Elution of olivetolic acid at ca. 2.8 min is confirmed by MS (FIG. 2C).

FIG. 3 illustrates biosynthesis of CBGA and CBDA in Prototheca moriformis. HPLC chromatograms (AU 270 nM) of representative wild-type (R2) (FIG. 3A) and a representative R2 transformed with pU061 (strain S1, SEQ ID NO: 16) and pU092 (SEQ ID NO: 15) (FIG. 3B) strains demonstrate accumulation of CBGA and CBDA in microalgae (R2-061-092). Elution of cannabigerolic and cannabidiolic acids at ca. 1.9 and 1.6 min, respectively, is confirmed by MS (FIG. 3C and FIG. 3D, respectively).

FIG. 4 illustrates biosynthesis of CBGA and THCA in Prototheca moriformis. HPLC chromatograms (AU 270 nM) of representative wild-type (R2) (FIG. 4A) and two representative R2 transformed with pU064 (strain S2, SEQ ID NO: 17) and pU092 (SEQ ID NO: 15) (FIG. 4B and FIG. 4C, respectively) strains demonstrate accumulation of CBGA and THCA in microalgae (R2-064-092-1 and R2-064-092-2). Elution of Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinolic and cannabigerolic acids at ca. 4.2 and 1.9 min, respectively, is confirmed by MS (FIG. 4D and FIG. 4E, respectively).

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Before the various embodiments are described, it is to be understood that the teachings of this disclosure are not limited to the particular embodiments described, and as such can vary. It is also to be understood that the terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only, and is not intended to be limiting, since the scope of the present teachings will be limited only by the appended claims.

Unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this disclosure belongs. Although any methods and materials similar or equivalent to those described herein can also be used in the practice or testing of the present teachings, some exemplary methods and materials are now described.

It must be noted that as used herein and in the appended claims, the singular forms “a”, “an”, and “the” include plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. It is further noted that the claims can be drafted to exclude any optional element. As such, this statement is intended to serve as antecedent basis for use of such exclusive terminology as “solely,” “only” and the like in connection with the recitation of claim elements, or use of a “negative” limitation. Numerical limitations given with respect to concentrations or levels of a substance are intended to be approximate, unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Thus, where a concentration is indicated to be (for example) 10 μg, it is intended that the concentration be understood to be at least approximately or about 10 μg.

As will be apparent to those of skill in the art upon reading this disclosure, each of the individual embodiments described and illustrated herein has discrete components and features which can be readily separated from or combined with the features of any of the other several embodiments without departing from the scope or spirit of the present teachings. Any recited method can be carried out in the order of events recited or in any other order which is logically possible.

Definitions

In reference to the present disclosure, the technical and scientific terms used in the descriptions herein will have the meanings commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art, unless specifically defined otherwise. Accordingly, the following terms are intended to have the following meanings.

As used herein, “alcanoyl-CoA” is an aliphatic carbonyl compound having a coenzyme A moiety bonded to the carbon atom of the carbonyl group through a sulfide bridge. Preferred alkanoyl CoA compounds comprise from 2 to 6 carbon atoms in the aliphatic carbonyl part of the compound. More preferably, the alkanoyl CoA is CoA-S—C(O)—(CH2)n-CH3, where n is an integer from 0 to 4. Examples of alkanoyl CoA compounds include acetyl CoA, butyryl CoA, and hexanoyl CoA. Use of acetyl CoA provides a methyl side chain to the resulting aromatic polyketide; use of butyryl-CoA provides a propyl side chain; and use of hexanoyl-CoA provides a pentyl side chain.

As used herein, “codon optimized” refers to changes in the codons of the polynucleotide encoding a protein to those preferentially used in a particular organism such that the encoded protein is efficiently expressed in the organism of interest. Although the genetic code is degenerate in that most amino acids are represented by several codons, called “synonyms” or “synonymous” codons, it is well known that codon usage by particular organisms is nonrandom and biased towards particular codon triplets. This codon usage bias may be higher in reference to a given gene, genes of common function or ancestral origin, highly expressed proteins versus low copy number proteins, and the aggregate protein coding regions of an organism's genome.

As used herein, “consensus sequence” and “canonical sequence” refer to an archetypical amino acid sequence against which all variants of a particular protein or sequence of interest are compared. The terms also refer to a sequence that sets forth the nucleotides that are most often present in a DNA sequence of interest among members of related gene sequences. For each position of a gene, the consensus sequence gives the amino acid that is most abundant in that position in a multiple sequence alignment (MSA).

As used herein, “control sequence” refers to components, which are used for the expression of a polynucleotide and/or polypeptide. Each control sequence may be native or foreign to the nucleic acid sequence encoding the polypeptide. Such control sequences may include, but are not limited to, some or all of the following: a promoter, inducible or constitutive, an enhancer, an operator, an attenuator, a ribosome binding site (e.g., shine-dalgarno sequence), a leader, a polyadenylation sequence, a pro-peptide sequence, a signal peptide sequence which directs the protein to which they are attached to a particular location in or outside the cell, and a transcription terminator. At a minimum, the control sequences include a promoter and transcriptional signals, and where appropriate, translational start and stop signals.

As used herein, an “effective amount” refers to an amount of a compound, formulation, material, or composition, as described herein effective to achieve a particular biological result.

As used herein, “expression vector” or “expression construct” or “recombinant DNA construct” refer to a nucleic acid construct, that has been generated recombinantly or synthetically via human intervention, including by recombinant means or direct chemical synthesis, with a series of specified nucleic acid elements that permit transcription and/or translation of a particular nucleic acid in a host cell. The expression vector can be part of a plasmid, virus, or nucleic acid fragment. Typically, the expression vector includes a nucleic acid to be transcribed operably linked to a promoter. The expression vector can exist in a host cell as either an episomal or integrated vector/construct.

As used herein, “exogenous gene” refers to a nucleic acid that codes for the expression of an RNA and/or protein that has been introduced (“transformed”) into a cell. A transformed cell may be referred to as a recombinant cell, into which additional exogenous gene(s) may be introduced. The exogenous gene may be from a different species (and so heterologous), or from the same species (and so homologous), relative to the cell being transformed. Thus, an exogenous gene can include a homologous gene that occupies a different location in the genome of the cell or is under different control, relative to the endogenous copy of the gene. An exogenous gene may be present in more than one copy in the cell. An exogenous gene may be maintained in a cell as an insertion into the genome or as an episomal molecule.

As used herein, “expeller pressing” is a mechanical method for extracting oil from raw materials such as soybeans and rapeseed. An expeller press is a screw type machine, which presses material through a caged barrel-like cavity. Raw materials enter one side of the press and spent cake exits the other side while oil seeps out between the bars in the cage and is collected. The machine uses friction and continuous pressure from the screw drives to move and compress the raw material. The oil seeps through small openings that do not allow solids to pass through. As the raw material is pressed, friction typically causes it to heat up.

As used herein, “heterologous” polynucleotide or polypeptide refers to any polynucleotide that is introduced into a host cell by laboratory techniques, or a polynucleotide that is foreign to a host cell. As such, the term includes polynucleotides that are removed from a host cell, subjected to laboratory manipulation, and then reintroduced into a host cell. The introduced polynucleotide can express a heterologous polypeptide. Heterologous polypeptides are those polypeptides that are foreign to the host cell being utilized.

As used herein, “isolated polypeptide” refers to a polypeptide which is substantially separated from other components that naturally accompany it, e.g., protein, lipids, and polynucleotides. The term embraces polypeptides which have been removed or purified from their naturally-occurring environment or expression system (e.g., host cell or in vitro synthesis). The polypeptides may be present within a cell, present in the cellular medium, or prepared in various forms, such as lysates or isolated preparations.

As used herein, “lipids” are a class of molecules that are soluble in nonpolar solvents (such as ether and chloroform) and are relatively or completely insoluble in water. Lipid molecules have these properties, because they consist largely of long hydrocarbon tails which are hydrophobic in nature. Examples of lipids include fatty acids (saturated and unsaturated); glycerides or glycerolipids (such as monoglycerides, diglycerides, triglycerides or neutral fats, and phosphoglycerides or glycerophospholipids); nonglycerides (sphingolipids, sterol lipids including cholesterol and steroid hormones, prenol lipids including terpenoids, fatty alcohols, waxes, and polyketides), composite prenol lipids (terpenophenolic cannabinoids); and complex lipid derivatives (sugar-linked lipids, or glycolipids, and protein-linked lipids).

As used herein, the terms “natural oil” or “natural fat” are used interchangeably and are defined to mean a total lipid predominantly composed of hydrocarbon oils of tryglyceride and/or terpenoid nature, where the oil has not undergone blending with another natural or synthetic oil, or fractionation so as to substantially alter the composition or the structure of hydrocarbons.

As used herein, “microalgae” refers to a eukaryotic microbial organism that contains a chloroplast or plastid, and optionally that is capable of performing photosynthesis, or a prokaryotic microbial organism capable of performing photosynthesis. Microalgae include obligate photoautotrophs, which cannot metabolize a fixed carbon source as energy, as well as heterotrophs, which can live solely off of a fixed carbon source. Microalgae include unicellular organisms that separate from sister cells shortly after cell division, such as Chlamydomonas, as well as microbes such as, for example, Volvox, which is a simple multicellular photosynthetic microbe of two distinct cell types. Microalgae include cells such as Chlorella, Dunaliella, and Prototheca. Microalgae also include other microbial photosynthetic organisms that exhibit cell-cell adhesion, such as Agmenellum, Anabaena, and Pyrobotrys. Microalgae also include obligate heterotrophic microorganisms that have lost the ability to perform photosynthesis, such as certain dinoflagellate algae species, thraustochytrids such as Schizotrichium and species of the genus Prototheca.

As used herein, “microorganism” and “microbe” are used interchangeably and refer to microscopic, unicellular organisms.

As used herein, “naturally-occurring” or “wild-type” refers to the form found in nature. For example, a naturally occurring or wild-type polypeptide or polynucleotide sequence is a sequence present in an organism that can be isolated from a source in nature and which has not been intentionally modified by human manipulation.

As used herein, “neurotransmitter” refers to molecules that interact with receptors found on neurons. Neurotransmitters may be agonists or antagonists of a receptor. Neurotransmitters may inhibit re-uptake of other neurotransmitters by neurons or cause a cell to have less neurotransmitter (make less or reduce the half-life). Neurotransmitters may be naturally occurring, recombinantly made, or otherwise manufactured.

As used herein, “operably linked” and “operable linkage” refer to a configuration in which a control sequence or other nucleic acid is appropriately placed (i.e., in a functional relationship) at a position relative to a polynucleotide of interest such that the control sequence or other nucleic acid can interact with the polynucleotide of interest. In the case of a control sequence, operable linkage means the control sequence directs or regulates the expression of the polynucleotide and/or polypeptide of interest. In the case of polypeptides, operably linked refers to a configuration in which a polypeptide is appropriately placed at a position relative to a polypeptide of interest such that the polypeptide can interact as desired with the polypeptide of interest.

As used herein, “percentage of sequence identity” and “percentage homology” are used interchangeably herein to define to comparisons among polynucleotides or polypeptides, and are determined by comparing two optimally aligned sequences over a comparison window, where the portion of the polynucleotide or polypeptide sequence in the comparison window may comprise additions or deletions (i.e., gaps) as compared to the reference sequence for optimal alignment of the two sequences. The percentage may be calculated by determining the number of positions at which the identical nucleic acid base or amino acid residue occurs in both sequences to yield the number of matched positions, dividing the number of matched positions by the total number of positions in the window of comparison and multiplying the result by 100 to yield the percentage of sequence identity. Alternatively, the percentage may be calculated by determining the number of positions at which either the identical nucleic acid base or amino acid residue occurs in both sequences or a nucleic acid base or amino acid residue is aligned with a gap to yield the number of matched positions, dividing the number of matched positions by the total number of positions in the window of comparison and multiplying the result by 100 to yield the percentage of sequence identity. Those of skill in the art appreciate that there are many established algorithms available to align two sequences. Optimal alignment of sequences for comparison can be conducted, e.g., by the local homology algorithm of Smith and Waterman, Adv Appl Math. 2:482, 1981; by the homology alignment algorithm of Needleman and Wunsch, J Mol Biol. 48:443, 1970; by the search for similarity method of Pearson and Lipman, Proc Natl Acad Sci. USA 85:2444, 1988; by computerized implementations of these algorithms (GAP, BESTFIT, FASTA, and TFASTA in the GCG Wisconsin Software Package), or by visual inspection (see generally, Current Protocols in Molecular Biology, F. M. Ausubel et al., eds., Greene Publishing Associates, Inc. and John Wiley & Sons, Inc., (1995 Supplement). Examples of algorithms that are suitable for determining percent sequence identity and sequence similarity are the BLAST and BLAST 2.0 algorithms, which are described in Altschul et al., J. Mol. Biol. 215:403-410, 1990; and Altschul et al., Nucleic Acids Res. 25(17):3389-3402, 1977; respectively. Software for performing BLAST analyses is publicly available through the National Center for Biotechnology Information website. BLAST for nucleotide sequences can use the BLASTN program with default parameters, e.g., a word length (W) of 11, an expectation (E) of 10, M=5, N=−4, and a comparison of both strands. BLAST for amino acid sequences can use the BLASTP program with default parameters, e.g., a word length (W) of 3, an expectation (E) of 10, and the BLOSUM62 scoring matrix (see Henikoff and Henikoff, Proc Natl Acad Sci. USA 89:10915, 1989). Exemplary determination of sequence alignment and % sequence identity can also employ the BESTFIT or GAP programs in the GCG Wisconsin Software package (Accelrys, Madison Wis.), using default parameters provided.

As used herein, “recombinant” or “engineered” or “non-naturally occurring” refers to a cell, nucleic acid, protein or vector that has been modified due to the introduction of an exogenous nucleic acid or the alteration of a native nucleic acid. Thus, e.g., recombinant cells express genes that are not found within the native (non-recombinant) form of the cell or express native genes differently than those genes are expressed by a non-recombinant cell. A “recombinant nucleic acid” is a nucleic acid made, in general, by the manipulation of nucleic acid, e.g., using polymerases and endonucleases, or otherwise into a form not normally found in nature. Recombinant nucleic acids may be produced, for example, to place two or more nucleic acids in operable linkage. Thus, an isolated nucleic acid or an expression vector formed in vitro by ligating DNA molecules that are not normally joined in nature, are both considered recombinant for the purposes of this invention. Once a recombinant nucleic acid is made and introduced into a host cell or organism, it may replicate using the in vivo cellular machinery of the host cell; however, such nucleic acids, once produced recombinantly, although subsequently replicated intracellularly, are still considered recombinant for purposes of this invention. Similarly, a “recombinant protein” is a protein made using recombinant techniques, i.e., through the expression of a recombinant nucleic acid.

As used herein, “recombinant variant” refers to any polypeptide differing from naturally occurring polypeptides by amino acid insertions, deletions, and substitutions, created using recombinant DNA techniques. Guidance in determining which amino acid residues may be replaced, added, or deleted without abolishing activities of interest, such as enzymatic or binding activities, may be found by comparing the sequence of the particular polypeptide with that of homologous peptides and minimizing the number of amino acid sequence changes made in regions of high homology. Amino acid “substitutions” are the result of replacing one amino acid with another amino acid having similar structural and/or chemical properties, i.e., conservative amino acid replacements. Amino acid substitutions may be made on the basis of similarity in polarity, charge, solubility, hydrophobicity, hydrophilicity, and/or the amphipathic nature of the residues involved. For example, nonpolar (hydrophobic) amino acids include alanine, leucine, isoleucine, valine, proline, phenylalanine, tryptophan, and methionine; polar neutral amino acids include glycine, serine, threonine, cysteine, tyrosine, asparagine, and glutamine; positively charged (basic) amino acids include arginine, lysine, and histidine; and negatively charged (acidic) amino acids include aspartic acid and glutamic acid.

As used herein, “reference sequence” refers to a defined sequence used as a basis for a sequence comparison. A reference sequence may be a subset of a larger sequence, for example, a segment of a full-length gene or polypeptide sequence. Generally, a reference sequence is at least 20 nucleotide or amino acid residues in length, at least 25 residues in length, at least 50 residues in length, or the full length of the nucleic acid or polypeptide. Since two polynucleotides or polypeptides may each (1) comprise a sequence (i.e., a portion of the complete sequence) that is similar between the two sequences, and (2) may further comprise a sequence that is divergent between the two sequences, sequence comparisons between two (or more) polynucleotides or polypeptide are typically performed by comparing sequences of the two polynucleotides or polypeptides over a “comparison window” to identify and compare local regions of sequence similarity. In some embodiments, a “reference sequence” can be based on a primary amino acid sequence, where the reference sequence is a sequence that can have one or more changes to the primary sequence.

As used herein, “reporter” or “reporter molecule” refers to a moiety capable of being detected indirectly or directly. Reporters include, without limitation, a chromophore, a fluorophore, a fluorescent protein, a receptor, a hapten, an enzyme, and a radioisotope.

As used herein, “reporter gene” refers to a polynucleotide that encodes a reporter molecule that can be detected, either directly or indirectly. Exemplary reporter genes encode, among others, enzymes, fluorescent proteins, bioluminescent proteins, receptors, antigenic epitopes, and transporters.

As used herein, “reporter probe” refers to a molecule that contains a detectable label and is used to detect the presence (e.g., expression) of a reporter molecule. The detectable label on the reporter probe can be any detectable moiety, including, without limitation, an isotope (e.g., detectable by PET, SPECT, etc), chromophore, and fluorophore. The reporter probe can be any detectable molecule or composition that binds to or is acted upon by the reporter to permit detection of the reporter molecule.

As used herein, a “ribosome binding site” refers to a sequence of nucleotides upstream of the start codon of an mRNA transcript that is responsible for the recruitment of a ribosome during the initiation of protein translation.

As used herein, a “selection marker” refers to a gene introduced into a host cell that confers upon the host cell a trait suitable for artificial selection.

As used herein, “stringent hybridization conditions” refers to hybridizing in 50% formamide at 5×SSC at a temperature of 42° C. and washing the filters in 0.2×SSC at 60° C. (1×SSC is 0.15M NaCl, 0.015M sodium citrate.) Stringent hybridization conditions also encompasses low ionic strength and high temperature for washing, for example 0.015 M sodium chloride/0.0015 M sodium citrate/0.1% sodium dodecyl sulfate at 50° C.; hybridization with a denaturing agent, such as formamide, for example, 50% (v/v) formamide with 0.1% bovine serum albumin/0.1% Ficoll/0.1% polyvinylpyrrolidone/50 mM sodium phosphate buffer at pH 6.5 with 750 mM sodium chloride, 75 mM sodium citrate at 42° C.; or 50% formamide, 5×SSC (0.75 M NaCl, 0.075 M sodium citrate), 50 mM sodium phosphate (pH 6.8), 0.1% sodium pyrophosphate, 5×Denhardt's solution, sonicated salmon sperm DNA (50 μg/ml), 0.1% SDS, and 10% dextran sulfate at 42° C., with washes at 42° C. in 0.2×SSC (sodium chloride/sodium citrate) and 50% formamide at 55° C., followed by a high-stringency wash consisting of 0.1×SSC containing EDTA at 55° C.

As used herein, “substantial identity” refers to a polynucleotide or polypeptide sequence that has at least 80 percent sequence identity, at least 85 percent identity and 89 to 95 percent sequence identity. Substantial identity also encompasses at least 99 percent sequence identity as compared to a reference sequence over a comparison window of at least 20 residue positions or a window of at least 30-50 residues, wherein the percentage of sequence identity is calculated by comparing the reference sequence to a sequence that includes deletions or additions or substitutions over the window of comparison. In specific embodiments applied to polypeptides, the term “substantial identity” means that two polypeptide sequences, when optimally aligned, such as by the programs GAP or BESTFIT using standard parameters, i.e., default parameters, share at least 80 percent sequence identity, preferably at least 89 percent sequence identity, at least 95 percent sequence identity or more (e.g., 99 percent sequence identity).

Enzymes

Plant-derived cannabinoid neurotransmitters are biosynthesized in plants of Cannabis sativa L. (Cannabis, hemp, marijuana), Cannabis ruderalis, Cannabis indica primarily in glandular trichomes that cover female flowers at high density. Cannabinoids are formed in plants by a four-step process: alcanoyl-CoA formation, polyketide formation, aromatic prenylation and cyclization.

Enzymes capable of carrying out the synthesis steps for making the neurotransmitters described herein include Cannabis sativa hexanoyl-CoA synthetase/butyryl-CoA synthetase, 3,5,7-trioxododecanoyl-CoA synthase/3,5,7-trioxodecanoyl-CoA synthase, 3,5,7-trioxododecanoyl-CoA CoA-lyase, geranyl-diphosphate:olivetolate geranyltransferase, cannabichromenic acid synthase, cannabidiolic-acid synthase, and/or Δ1-tetrahydrocannabinolic acid synthase.

When amino acid sequences of the enzymes above are blasted against the NCBI database, multiple homologous genes (and cDNAs) can be identified in Cannabis sativa and Cannabis indica cultivars reflecting the multiple gene family organization of cannabinoid biosynthetic genes and that gene families gone through several duplication events creating multiple copies of homologues gene family members. Examples of homologous variant genes are described in Van Bakel et al (2011) Genome Biology 2011, 12:R102, in Sawler et al (2015) PLosOne 10(8): e0133292. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0133292, and in the U.S. Pat. Application No 2014/0057251 A1, which are incorporated by reference in its entirety for all purposes.

Hexanoyl-CoA Synthetase from Cannabis sativa has the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1. Other enzymes can make hexanoyl-CoA and/or butyryl-CoA including, for example, Acetate-CoA ligase (AMP-forming) (EC 6.2.1.1), Acetate-CoA ligase (ADP-forming) (EC 6.2.1.13), Butyrate-CoA ligase (AMP-forming) (EC 6.2.1.2), long chain acyl-CoA synthetases (EC 6.2.1.3), Succinate-CoA ligase (ADP-forming) (EC 6.2.1.5), Carboxylic acid-CoA ligase (GDP-forming) (EC 6.2.1.10), Biotin-CoA ligase (AMP-forming) (EC 6.2.1.11), 4-Coumarate-CoA ligase (AMP-forming) (EC 6.2.1.12), 6-carboxyhexanoate-CoA ligase (AMP-forming) (EC 6.2.1.14), 6-Arachidonate-CoA ligase (AMP-forming) (EC 6.2.1.15), Acetoacetate-CoA ligase (AMP-forming) (EC 6.2.1.16), Propanoate-CoA ligase (AMP-forming) (EC 6.2.1.17), Omega-dicarboxylate-CoA ligase (AMP-forming) (EC 6.2.1.23), Phenylacetate:CoA ligase (AMP-forming) (EC 6.2.1.30), Hydroxypropanoate:CoA ligase (AMP-forming) (EC 6.2.1.36), 4-hydroxybutanoate:CoA ligase (AMP-forming) (EC 6.2.1.40), 3-(methylthio)propanoate:CoA ligase (AMP-forming) (EC 6.2.1.44), and/or Medium-chain-fatty-acid:[acyl-carrier protein] ligase (AMP-forming) (EC 6.2.1.47).

3,5,7-trioxododecanoyl-CoA synthase (EC 2.3.1.206) from Cannabis sativa has amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2. Other enzymes can make 3,5,7-trioxododecanoyl-CoA and/or 3,5,7-trioxodecanoyl-CoA including, for example, chalcone synthase (CHS), stilbene synthase (STS), malonyl-CoA:4-coumaroyl-CoA malonyltransferase (cyclizing) (EC:2.3.1.74), bisdemethoxycurcumin synthase (EC:2.3.1.211), pinosylvin synthase (EC:2.3.1.146), phenylpropanoylacetyl-CoA synthase (EC:2.3.1.218), curcumin synthase (EC:2.3.1.217) curcumin/demethoxycurcumin synthase (EC:2.3.1.219), 3,5-dihydroxybiphenyl/4-hydroxycoumarin synthase (EC:2.3.1.177 2.3.1.208), 5,7-dihydroxy-2-methylchromone synthase (EC:2.3.1.216), 2,4,6-trihydroxybenzophenone synthase (EC:2.3.1.220), fungal type III polyketide synthase, phlD, phloroglucinol synthase (EC:2.3.1.253), 1,3,6,8-tetrahydroxynaphthalene synthase (EC:2.3.1.233), germicidin synthase, alpha-pyrone synthase, alkylresorcinol synthase, alkylpyrone synthase; and alkylresorcinol/alkylpyrone synthases.

3,5,7-trioxododecanoyl-CoA CoA-lyase (2,4-dihydroxy-6-pentylbenzoate-forming) (EC 4.4.1.26), from Cannabis sativa has the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 3. Other enzymes can make olivetolic acid or divarinic acid including, for example, tetracenomycin F2 cyclase (EC 4.2.1.154) from Streptomyces glaucescens, ActVA-Orf6 monooxygenase from Streptomyces coelicolor, MLMI, 4-methylmuconolactone methylisomerase from Pseudomonas reinekei MT1, AtHS1, At5g22580, and At1g51360 (AtDABB1) from Arabidopsis thaliana, and SP1 from Populus tremolo.

Geranyl-diphosphate:olivetolate geranyltransferase (EC 2.5.1.102) from Cannabis sativa has the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 4. Other enzymes can make CBGA or CBGVA include, for example, CloQ, involved in biosynthesis of clorobiocin from Streptomyces roseochromogenes, NovQ involved in biosynthesis of novobiocin from Streptomyces spheroides, NphB involved in biosynthesis of naphterpin from Streptomyces sp. strain CL 190, SCO7190 from Streptomyces coelicolor, Fnq26 and Fnq28 involved in biosynthesis of furanonaphthoquinone I from Streptomyces cinnamomensis, a prenyl transferase from Hypericum calycinum involved in biosynthesis of hyperxanthone E, PcPT involved in generation of bioactive furanocoumarin molecules from Petroselinum crispum, CIPT involved in coumarin biosynthesis from Citrus limon, CPT2 involved in biosynthetic route to lycosantalonol from Solanum lycopersicum, TkCPT1, TkCPT2, TkCPT3 involved in the biosynthesis of natural rubber from Taraxacum koksaghyz.

Cannabichromenic acid synthase from Cannabis sativa has the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 5. Cannabidiolic-acid synthase (EC 1.21.3.8) from Cannabis sativa has the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 6. Δ1-tetrahydrocannabinolic acid synthase (EC 1.21.3.7) from Cannabis sativa has the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 7.

Other enzymes can make CBCA/CBCVA, CBDA/CBDVA, and/or THCA/THCVA include, for example, PCBC, isopenicillin-N synthase (EC 1.21.3.1), columbamine oxidase (EC 1.21.3.2) and BBE1, reticuline oxidase (EC 1.21.3.3) involved in isoquinoline alkaloid, sulochrin oxidase [(+)-bisdechlorogeodin-forming] (EC 1.21.3.4) and sulochrin oxidase [(−)-bisdechlorogeodin-forming] (EC 1.21.3.5) from Penicillium frequentans and Oospora sulphurea-ochracea, AS1, aureusidin synthase (EC:1.21.3.6) involved in aurone biosynthetic pathway in plants.

Neurotransmitters

In some embodiments, the neurotransmitters are cannabinoids such as, for example, cannabigerolic acid (CBGA), cannabichromenic acid (CBCA), cannabidiolic acid (CBDA), tetrahydrocannabinolic acid (THCA), cannabigerovarinic acid (CBGVA), cannabidivarinic acid (CBDVA), cannabichromevarinic acid (CBCVA), or tetrahydrocannabivarinic acid (THCVA). When hexanoic acid (or other six carbon precursor) is used as precursor the microalgae can make CBGA, CBCA, CBDA and THCA. When butyric acid (or other four carbon precursor) is used as precursor the microalgae can make CBGVA, CBDVA, CBCVA, and THCVA.

To date, more than 104 different phytocannabinoids have been identified in Cannabis sp. plants (ElSohly, M. A. and W. Gul. 2014. Handbook of Cannabis (Chapter 2). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press: P.20). Among these, delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) has received the most attention because of its psychoactive properties, owing to its ability to act as a partial agonist of CB1 receptors. Phytocannabinoids exist mainly in the plant as their carboxylic precursors (delta-9-THCA) and are decarboxylated by light or heat while in storage or when combusted. THC shares a common precursor, olivetolic acid, with another quantitatively important plant constituent, cannabidiol (CBD), which is synthesized in vivo as a pre-cursor cannabidiolic acid (CBDA), and is converted to CBD by decarboxylation.

Nucleic Acids

Nucleic acids encode one or more of the enzymes described above. These nucleic acids are used to engineer into suitable host cells the biochemical pathways for making neurotransmitters that can interact with cannabinoid receptors in a subject.

In some embodiments, the nucleic acids are expression constructs, such as plasmids, or viral vectors, or linear vectors, or vectors that integrate into chromosomal DNA. Expression constructs can contain a nucleic acid sequence that enables the construct to replicate in one or more selected host cells (e.g., an origin of replication). Such sequences are well known for a variety of cells. E.g., the origin of replication from the plasmid pBR322 is suitable for most Gram-negative bacteria. In eukaryotic host cells, e.g., mammalian cells, the expression construct can be integrated into the host cell chromosome and then the construct replicates with the host chromosome. Similarly, constructs can be integrated into the chromosome of prokaryotic cells.

In general, expression constructs containing replication and control sequences that are derived from species compatible with the host cell are used in connection with a suitable host cell. The expression construct ordinarily carries a replication site, as well as marking sequences that are capable of providing phenotypic selection of the construct in transformed cells. For example, E. coli is typically transformed using pBR322, a plasmid derived from an E. coli species (see, e.g., Bolivar et al., (1977) Gene, 2: 95). pBR322 contains genes for ampicillin and tetracycline resistance and thus provides easy means for identifying transformed cells.

In some embodiments, the constructs used can be stimulated to increase (or decrease) copy number in a suitable host cell. This copy control can be used to change the window of detection/selection for the biosensors that are cloned in the constructs, e.g., fosmid clones. For example, the CopyControl Cloning System vectors which are sold by Epicentre can be used in the invention to make fosmid clones whose copy number can be inducibly changed (using arabinose). These copy number controllable constructs may be used in conjunction with the EPI300 E. coli strain which is also sold by Epicentre. In some embodiments, the CopyControl Cloning System is used to induce a high copy number for fosmid clones in the Metagenomic library.

Expression constructs also generally contain a selection gene, also termed a selectable marker. Selectable markers are well-known in the art for prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells, including host cells of the invention. Generally, the selection gene encodes a protein necessary for the survival or growth of transformed host cells grown in a selective culture medium. Host cells not transformed with the construct containing the selection gene will not survive in the culture medium. Typical selection genes encode proteins that (a) confer resistance to antibiotics or other toxins, e.g., ampicillin, neomycin, methotrexate, spectinomycin, chloramphenicol, kanamycin, or tetracycline, (b) complement auxotrophic deficiencies, e.g., the gene encoding D-alanine racemase for Bacilli unable to make D-alanine because of a mutant D-alanine racemase. In some embodiments, an exemplary selection scheme utilizes a drug to arrest growth of a host cell. Those cells that are successfully transformed with a heterologous gene produce a protein conferring drug resistance and thus survive the selection regimen. Other selectable markers for use in bacterial or eukaryotic (including mammalian) systems are well-known in the art.

The expression construct for producing the polypeptides of the invention contain a suitable control region that is recognized by the host organism and is operably linked to the nucleic acid encoding the polypeptide of interest. Promoters used in the constructs of the invention include cis-acting transcriptional control elements and regulatory sequences that are involved in regulating or modulating the timing and/or rate of transcription of a gene. For example, a promoter can be a cis-acting transcriptional control element, including an enhancer, a promoter, a transcription terminator, an origin of replication, a chromosomal integration sequence, 5′ and 3′ untranslated regions, or an intronic sequence, which are involved in transcriptional regulation. These cis-acting sequences can interact with proteins or other biomolecules to carry out (turn on/off, regulate, modulate, etc.) transcription. “Constitutive” promoters are those that drive expression continuously under most environmental conditions and states of development or cell differentiation. “Inducible” or “regulatable” promoters direct expression of the nucleic acid of the invention under the influence of environmental conditions or developmental conditions. Examples of environmental conditions that may affect transcription by inducible promoters include anaerobic conditions, elevated temperature, drought, changes in nutrient concentration, or the presence of light.

Expression constructs of the invention typically have promoter elements, e.g., enhancers, to regulate the frequency of transcriptional initiation. Typically, these are located in the region 30-110 base pairs upstream of the start site, although a number of promoters have been shown to contain functional elements downstream of the start site as well. The spacing between promoter elements frequently is flexible, so that promoter function is preserved when elements are inverted or moved relative to one another. In the thymidine kinase (tk) promoter, the spacing between promoter elements can be increased to 50 base pairs apart before activity begins to decline. Depending on the promoter, it appears that individual elements can function either cooperatively or independently to activate transcription.

Promoters suitable for use in microalgae include, for example, β-tubulin from Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, viral promoters from cauliflower mosaic virus (CMV) and chlorella virus, which are active in multiple species of microalgae (see for example Plant Cell Rep. 2005 March; 23(10-11):727-35; J Microbiol. 2005 August; 43(4):361-5; Mar Biotechnol (NY). 2002 January; 4(1):63-73). Another promoter that is suitable for use in Prototheca is the Chlorella sorokiniana glutamate dehydrogenase promoter/5′UTR, the promoter for the Chlorella HUP1 gene, and the promoter for the Chlorella ellipsoidea nitrate reductase. The foregoing promoters and more promoters useful for expressing polypeptides in microalgae are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,222,010, 9,279,136 and 9,290,749, such as amino acid (AAT), ammonium (AMT), sugar (SUT) transporters (SEQ ID NOs: 55-66 of U.S. Pat. No. 9,279,136), and which are incorporated by reference in their entirety for all purposes. Chlorella virus promoters can also be used to express genes in Prototheca, such as SEQ ID NOs: 1-7 of U.S. Pat. No. 6,395,965, which is incorporated by reference in its entirety for all purposes. Still other promoters active in Prototheca can be found, for example, in Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 1994 Oct. 14; 204(1):187-94; Plant Mol. Biol. 1994 October; 26(1):85-93; Virology. 2004 Aug. 15; 326(1):150-9; and Virology. 2004 Jan. 5; 318(1):214-23, all of which are incorporated by reference in their entirety for all purposes.

Exemplary mammalian promoters include CMV immediate early, HSV thymidine kinase, early and late SV40, LTRs from retrovirus, and mouse metallothionein I. The nucleotide sequences of these and many other promoters have been published, thereby enabling a skilled worker to operably join them to DNA encoding the polypeptide of interest (Siebenlist et al, (1980) Cell, 20: 269) using linkers, adaptors or “scarless”, to supply any required restriction sites. See also, e.g., Sambrook et al., Molecular Cloning: A Laboratory Manual, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y. (1989); and Current Protocols in Molecular Biology, Ausubel et al., eds, Green Publishers Inc. and Wiley and Sons, N.Y (1994), both of which are incorporated by reference in their entirety for all purposes.

Nucleic acids that encode polypeptides are also described herein. The nucleic acid encoding a polypeptide can be easily prepared from an amino acid sequence of the polypeptide of interest using the genetic code. The nucleic acid encoding a polypeptide can be prepared using a standard molecular biological and/or chemical procedure. For example, based on the base sequence, a nucleic acid can be synthesized, and the nucleic acid of the present invention can be prepared by combining DNA fragments which are obtained from a cell or other nucleic acid using a polymerase chain reaction (PCR).

For recombinant expression of a polypeptide in a host cell, it can be beneficial to employ coding sequences in recombinant nucleic acids that produce mRNA with codons preferentially used by the host cell. Thus, proper expression of transgenes can require that the codon usage of the transgene matches the specific codon bias of the organism in which the transgene is being expressed. Codon optimization for microalgae is described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,222,010 and 9,290,749, both of which are incorporated by reference in their entirety for all purposes. Table 1 shows codon usage for mRNAs from Prototheca strains.

TABLE 1 Preferred codon usage in Prototheca strains Ala GCG 345 (0.36) Asn AAT  8 (0.04) Val GTG 308 (0.5)  GCA  66 (0.07) AAC 201 (0.96) GTA  9 (0.01) GCT 101 (0.11) GTT  35 (0.06) GCC 442 (0.46) Pro CCG 161 (0.29) GTC 262 (0.43) CCA  49 (0.09) Cys TGT 12 (0.1) CCT  71 (0.13) Trp TGG 107 (1)   TGC 105 (0.9)  CCC 267 (0.49) Tyr TAT  10 (0.05) Asp GAT  43 (0.12) Gln CAG 226 (0.82) TAC 180 (0.95) GAC 316 (0.88) CAA  48 (0.18) Lys AAG 284 (0.98) Glu GAG 377 (0.96) Arg AGG  33 (0.06) AAA  7 (0.02) GAA  14 (0.04) AGA  14 (0.02) CGG 102 (0.18) Leu TTG  26 (0.04) Phe TTT  89 (0.29) CGA  49 (0.08) TTA 3 (0)  TTC 216 (0.71) CGT  51 (0.09) CTG 447 (0.61) CGC 331 (0.57) CTA  20 (0.03) Gly GGG  92 (0.12) CTT  45 (0.06) GGA  56 (0.07) Ser AGT  16 (0.03) CTC 190 (0.26) GGT 76 (0.1) AGC 123 (0.22) GGC 559 (0.71) TCG 152 (0.28) Met ATG 191 (1)   TCA  31 (0.06) His CAT  42 (0.21) TCT 55 (0.1) Stop TGA CAC 154 (0.79) TCC 173 (0.31) TAG Ile ATA  4 (0.01) Thr ACG 184 (0.38) TAA ATT  30 (0.08) ACA  24 (0.05) ATC 338 (0.91) ACT  22 (0.05) ACC 249 (0.52)

The nucleic acids may also encode fragments and/or variants of a polypeptide having one or more deletions, additions and substitutions to the sequence. The fragments and/or variants can have 1, 2, 3 or more deletions, additions and/or substitutions to the sequence. The additions and deletions can be in the internal sequence, carboxy, and/or amino terminus of the polypeptide sequence, where the variant retains the desired enzymatic activity. The term “conservative variation” denotes the replacement of an amino acid residue by another biologically similar residue, or the replacement of a nucleotide in a nucleic acid sequence such that the encoded amino acid residue does not change or is changed to another structurally, chemically or otherwise functionally similar residue. In this regard, some substitutions will generally be conservative in nature, i.e., those substitutions that take place within a family of amino acids. For example, amino acids are generally divided into four families: (1) acidic—aspartate and glutamate; (2) basic—lysine, arginine, histidine; (3) non-polar—alanine, valine, leucine, isoleucine, proline, phenylalanine, methionine, tryptophan; and (4) uncharged polar—glycine, asparagine, glutamine, cysteine, serine, threonine, and tyrosine. Phenylalanine, tryptophan, and tyrosine are sometimes classified as aromatic amino acids. Examples of conservative variations include the substitution of one hydrophobic residue such as isoleucine, valine, leucine or methionine for another hydrophobic residue, or the substitution of one polar residue for another polar residue, such as the substitution of arginine for lysine, glutamic acid for aspartic acid, or glutamine for asparagine, and the like; or a similar conservative replacement of an amino acid with a structurally related amino acid that will not have a major effect on the biological activity. Polypeptides having substantially the same amino acid sequence as the reference molecule but possessing minor amino acid substitutions that do not substantially affect the activity of the polypeptide are, therefore, within the definition of the reference polypeptide. All of the polypeptides produced by these modifications are included herein. The term “conservative variation” also includes the use of a substituted amino acid in place of an unsubstituted parent amino acid provided that antibodies raised to the substituted polypeptide also immunoreact with the unsubstituted polypeptide.

Homologs of the enzymes used herein are also disclosed. As used herein, the term “homologs” includes analogs and paralogs. The term “anologs” refers to two polynucleotides or polypeptides that have the same or similar function, but that have evolved separately in unrelated host organisms. The term “paralogs” refers to two polynucleotides or polypeptides that are related by duplication within a genome. Paralogs usually have different functions, but these functions may be related. Analogs and paralogs of an enzyme can differ from the wild-type enzyme by post-translational modifications, by amino acid sequence differences, or by both. In particular, homologs will generally exhibit at least 80-85%, 85-90%, 90-95%, or 95%, 96%, 97%, 98%, or 99% sequence identity, with all or part of the wild-type enzyme sequence, and will exhibit a similar function. Variants include allelic variants. The term “allelic variant” refers to a polynucleotide or a polypeptide containing polymorphisms that lead to changes in the amino acid sequences of a protein and that exist within a natural population (e.g., a virus species or variety). Such natural allelic variations can typically result in 1-5% variance in a polynucleotide or a polypeptide. Any and all such nucleic acid variations and resulting amino acid polymorphisms or variations that are the result of natural allelic variation and that do not alter the functional activity of the gene of interest, are intended to be within the scope of the disclosure.

As used herein, “derivative” or “variant” refers to a enzymes, or a nucleic acid encoding an enzyme, that has one or more conservative amino acid variations or other minor modifications such that the corresponding polypeptide has substantially equivalent function when compared to the wild type polypeptide. These variants or derivatives include polypeptides having minor modifications of the enzyme primary amino acid sequences that may result in peptides which have substantially equivalent activity as compared to the unmodified counterpart enzyme. Such modifications may be deliberate, as by site-directed mutagenesis, or may be spontaneous. The term “variant” further contemplates deletions, additions and substitutions to the sequence, so long as the enzyme functions. The term “variant” also includes the modification of a polypeptide where the native signal peptide is replaced with a heterologous signal peptide to facilitate the expression or secretion of the polypeptide from a host species.

The nucleic acid of the present invention can be linked to another nucleic acid so as to be expressed under control of a suitable promoter. The nucleic acid of the present invention can be also linked to, in order to attain efficient transcription of the nucleic acid, other regulatory elements that cooperate with a promoter or a transcription initiation site, for example, a nucleic acid comprising an enhancer sequence, or a terminator sequence. In addition to the nucleic acid of the present invention, a gene that can be a marker for confirming expression of the nucleic acid (e.g. a drug resistance gene, a gene encoding a reporter enzyme, or a gene encoding a fluorescent protein) may be incorporated.

When the nucleic acid of the present invention is introduced into a host cell, the nucleic acid of the present invention may be combined with a substance that promotes transference of a nucleic acid into a cell, for example, a reagent for introducing a nucleic acid such as a liposome or a cationic lipid, in addition to the aforementioned excipients. Alternatively, a construct carrying the nucleic acid of the present invention is also useful.

Host Cells

In the present invention, various host cells can be used with the polynucleotides and polypeptides of the invention. The host cell may be any of the host cells familiar to those skilled in the art, including prokaryotic cells and eukaryotic cells, such as bacterial cells, fungal cells, yeast cells, mammalian cells, insect cells, or plant cells.

In other embodiments, the host cells are algal and/or photosynthetic, or non-photosynthetic, including but not limited to algae or photosynthetic cells of the genera Agmenellum, Amphora, Anabaena, Ankistrodesmus, Asterochloris, Asteromonas, Astephomene, Auxenochlorella, Basichlamys, Botryococcus, Botryokoryne, Boekelovia, Borodinella, Brachiomonas, Catena, Carteria, Chaetoceros, Chaetophora, Characiochloris, Characiosiphon, Chlainomonas, Chlamydomonas, Chlorella, Chlorochytrium, Chlorococcum, Chlorogonium, Chloromonas, Chrysosphaera, Closteriopsis, Cricosphaera, Cryptomonas, Cyclotella, Dictyochloropsis, Dunaliella, Ellipsoidon, Eremosphaera, Eudorina, Euglena, Fragilaria, Floydiella, Friedmania, Haematococcus, Hafniomonas, Heterochlorella, Gleocapsa, Gloeothamnion, Gonium, Halosarcinochlamys, Hymenomonas, Isochrysis, Koliella, Lepocinclis, Lobocharacium, Lobochlamys, Lobomonas, Lobosphaera, Lobosphaeropsis, Marvania, Monoraphidium, Myrmecia, Nannochloris, Nannochloropsis, Navicula, Nephrochloris, Nitschia, Nitzschia, Ochromonas, Oocystis, Oogamochlamys, Oscillatoria, Pabia, Pandorina, Parietochloris, Pascheria, Phacotus, Phagus, Phormidium, Platydorina, Platymonas, Pleodorina, Pleurochrysis, Polulichloris, Polytoma, Polytomella, Prasiola, Prasiolopsis, Prasiococcus, Prototheca, Pseudochlorella, Pseudocarteria, Pseudotrebouxia, Pteromonas, Pyrobotrys, Rosenvingiella, Scenedesmus, Schizotrichium, Spirogyra, Stephanosphaera, Tetrabaena, Tetraedron, Tetraselmis, Thraustochytrium, Trebouxia, Trochisciopsis, Ulkenia, Viridiella, Vitreochlamys, Volvox, Volvulina, Vulcanochloris, Watanabea, or Yamagishiella. In some embodiments, the host cell is Botryococcus braunii, Prototheca krugani, Prototheca moriformis, Prototheca portoricensis, Prototheca stagnora, Prototheca wickerhamii, Prototheca zopfii, Schizotrichium sp, and the like.

Microalgae are eukaryotic microbial organisms that contain a chloroplast or plastid, and optionally are capable of performing photosynthesis, or a prokaryotic microbial organism capable of performing photosynthesis. Microalgae include obligate photoautotrophs, which cannot metabolize a fixed carbon source as energy, as well as heterotrophs, which can live solely off of a fixed carbon source. Microalgae include unicellular organisms that separate from sister cells shortly after cell division, such as Chlamydomonas, as well as microbes such as, for example, Volvox, which is a simple multicellular photosynthetic microbe of two distinct cell types. Microalgae include cells such as Chlorella, Dunaliella, and Prototheca. Microalgae also include other microbial photosynthetic organisms that exhibit cell-cell adhesion, such as Agmenellum, Anabaena, and Pyrobotrys. Microalgae also include obligate heterotrophic microorganisms that have lost the ability to perform photosynthesis, such as certain dinoflagellate algae species, thraustochytrids such as Schizotrichium and species of the genus Prototheca. Examples of microalgae are provided in PCT Patent Applications WO2008/151149, WO2010/06032, WO2011/150410, and WO2011/150411, all of which are incorporated by reference in their entirety for all purposes.

In some embodiments, host cells are Prototheca strains, particularly recombinant Prototheca strains, for the production of lipids. Species of Prototheca for use in the invention can be identified by amplification of certain target regions of the genome. Well established methods of phylogenetic analysis, such as amplification and sequencing of ribosomal internal transcribed spacer (ITS1 and ITS2 rDNA), 23S rRNA, 18S rRNA, and other conserved genomic regions can be used by those skilled in the art to identify species of not only Prototheca, but other hydrocarbon and lipid producing organisms with similar lipid production capability. For examples of methods of identification and classification of algae also see for example Genetics, 2005 August; 170(4):1601-10 and RNA, 2005 April; 11(4):361-4. Microalgae for use in the present invention typically have genomic DNA sequences encoding for 16S rRNA that have at least 99%, at least 95%, at least 90%, at least 85%, at least 80%, at least 75%, or at least 70% sequence identity described in Ewing A, et al (2014) J. Phycol. 50: 765-769, which is incorporated by reference in its entirety for all purposes.

In some embodiments, the eukaryotic cells are fungi cells, including, but not limited to, fungi of the genera Aciculoconidium, Ambrosiozyma, Arthroascus, Arxiozyma, Ashbya, Aspergillus, Babjevia, Bensingtonia, Botryoascus, Botryozyma, Brettanomyces, Bullera, Bulleromyces, Candida, Chlamydomonas, Chrysosporium, Citeromyces, Clavispora, Cryptococcus, Cystofilobasidium, Debaryomyces, Dekkara, Dipodascopsis, Dipodascus, Eeniella, Endomycopsella, Eremascus, Eremothecium, Erythrobasidium, Fellomyces, Filobasidium, Fusarium, Galactomyces, Geotrichum, Guilliermondella, Hanseniaspora, Hansenula, Holtermannia, Hormoascus, Hyphopichia, Issatchenkia, Kloeckera, Kloeckeraspora, Kluyveromyces, Kondoa, Kuraishia, Kurtzmanomyces, Leucosporidium, Lipomyces, Lodderomyces, Malassezia, Metschnikowia, Mrakia, Myxozyma, Nadsonia, Nakazawaea, Nematospora, Neotyphodium, Neurospora, Ogataea, Oosporidium, Pachysolen, Penicillium, Phachytichospora, Phaffia, Pichia, Rhodosporidium, Rhodotorula, Saccharomyces, Saccharomycodes, Saccharomycopsis, Saitoella, Sakaguchia, Saturnospora, Schizoblastosporion, Schizosaccharomyces, Schwanniomyces, Sporidiobolus, Sporobolomyces, Sporopachydermia, Stephanoascus, Sterigmatomyces, Sterigmatosporidium, Symbiotaphrina, Sympodiomyces, Sympodiomycopsis, Torulaspora, Trichoderma, Trichosporiella, Trichosporon, Trigonopsis, Tsuchiyaea, Udeniomyces, Waltomyces, Wickerhamia, Wickerhamiella, Williopsis, Xanthophyllomyces, Yamadazyma, Yarrowia, Zygoascus, Zygosaccharomyces, Zygowilliopsis, and Zygozyma, among others. In some embodiments, the fungi is Candida albicans, Chrysosporium lucknowense, Fusarium graminearum, Fusarium venenatum, Hansenula polymorpha, Kluyveromyces lactis, Neurospora crassa, Pichia angusta, Pichia finlandica, Pichia kodamae, Pichia membranaefaciens, Pichia methanolica, Pichia opuntiae, Pichia pastoris, Pichia pijperi, Pichia quercuum, Pichia salictaria, Pichia thermotolerans, Pichia trehalophila, Pichia stipitis, Streptomyces ambofaciens, Streptomyces aureofaciens, Streptomyces aureus, Saccaromyces bayanus, Saccaromyces boulardi, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Schizosaccharomyces pompe, Streptomyces fungicidicus, Streptomyces griseochromogenes, Streptomyces griseus, Streptomyces lividans, Streptomyces olivogriseus, Streptomyces rameus, Streptomyces tanashiensis, Streptomyces vinaceus, Trichoderma reesei and Xanthophyllomyces dendrorhous (formerly Phaffia rhodozyma), or a filamentous fungi, e.g. Trichoderma, Aspergillus sp., including Aspergillus nidulans, Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus oryzae, Aspergillus phoenicis, Aspergillus carbonarius, and the like.

In some embodiments the host cells are plant cells. In some embodiments the plant cells are cells of monocotyledonous or dicotyledonous plants, including, but not limited to, alfalfa, almonds, asparagus, avocado, banana, barley, bean, blackberry, brassicas, broccoli, cabbage, canola, carrot, cauliflower, celery, cherry, chicory, citrus, coffee, cotton, cucumber, eucalyptus, hemp, lettuce, lentil, maize, mango, melon, oat, papaya, pea, peanut, pineapple, plum, potato (including sweet potatoes), pumpkin, radish, rapeseed, raspberry, rice, rye, sorghum, soybean, spinach, strawberry, sugar beet, sugarcane, sunflower, tobacco, tomato, turnip, wheat, zucchini, and other fruiting vegetables (e.g. tomatoes, pepper, chili, eggplant, cucumber, squash etc.), other bulb vegetables (e.g., garlic, onion, leek etc.), other pome fruit (e.g. apples, pears etc.), other stone fruit (e.g., peach, nectarine, apricot, pears, plums etc.), Arabidopsis, woody plants such as coniferous and deciduous trees, an ornamental plant, a perennial grass, a forage crop, flowers, other vegetables, other fruits, other agricultural crops, herbs, grass, or perennial plant parts (e.g., bulbs; tubers; roots; crowns; stems; stolons; tillers; shoots; cuttings, including un-rooted cuttings, rooted cuttings, and callus cuttings or callus-generated plantlets; apical meristems etc.). The term “plants” refers to all physical parts of a plant, including seeds, seedlings, saplings, roots, tubers, stems, stalks, foliage and fruits.

Suitable prokaryote host cells include bacteria, e.g., eubacteria, such as Gram-negative or Gram-positive organisms, for example, any species of Acidovorax, Agrobacterium, Alicyclobacillus, Anabaena, Anacystis, Arthrobacter, Azobacter, Bacillus, Brevibacterium, Chromatium, Clostridium, Corynebacterium, Enterobacter, Erwinia, Escherichia, Lactobacillus, Lactococcus, Mesorhizobium, Methylobacterium, Microbacterium, Phormidium, Pseudomonas, Rhodobacter, Rhodopseudomonas, Rhodospirillum, Rhodococcus, Salmonella, Scenedesmun, Serratia, Shigella, Staphylococcus, Streptomyces, Synechococcus, Vibrio, and Zymomonas, including, e.g., Bacillus amyloliquefaciens, Bacillus subtilis, Brevibacterium ammoniagenes, Brevibacterium immariophilum, Clostridium acetobutylicum, Clostridium beigerinckii, Clostridium Beijerinckii, Clostridium saccharoperbutylacetonicum, Clostridium saccharobutylicum, Clostridium aurantibutyricum, Clostridium tetanomorphum, Enterobacter sakazakii, Bacillus cereus, Escherichia coli, Lactococcus lactis, Mesorhizobium loti, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Pseudomonas fluorescens, Pseudomonas mevalonii, Pseudomonas pudica, Rhodobacter capsulatus, Rhodobacter sphaeroides, Rhodospirillum rubrum, Salmonella enterica, Salmonella typhi, Salmonella typhimurium, Serratia marcescens, Shigella dysenteriae, Shigella flexneri, Shigella sonnei, Staphylococcus aureus, Vibrio natriegens, and the like.

One example of an E. coli host is E. coli 294 (ATCC 31,446). Other strains such as EPI300 E. coli, E. coli B, E. coli X1776 (ATCC 31,537), and E. coli W3110 (ATCC 27,325) are also suitable. These examples are illustrative rather than limiting. Strain W3110 is a typical host because it is a common host strain for recombinant DNA product fermentations. In one aspect of the invention, the host cell should secrete minimal amounts of proteolytic enzymes. For example, strain W3110 may be modified to affect a genetic mutation in the genes encoding proteins, with examples of such hosts including E. coli W3110 strains 1A2, 27A7, 27B4, and 27C7 described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,410,026 issued Apr. 25, 1995, which is incorporated by reference in its entirety for all purposes.

Exemplary insect cells include any species of Spodoptera or Drosophila, including Drosophila S2 and Spodoptera Sf9. Exemplary animal cells include CHO, COS or Bowes melanoma or any appropriate mouse or human cell line known to person of skill in the art.

Introduction of Polynucleotides to Host Cells

In some embodiments, the nucleic acid(s) of the invention is/are introduced to the eukaryotic cell by transfection (e.g., Gorman, et al. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 79.22 (1982): 6777-6781, which is incorporated by reference in its entirety for all purposes), transduction (e.g., Cepko and Pear (2001) Current Protocols in Molecular Biology unit 9.9; DOI: 10.1002/0471142727.mb0909s36, which is incorporated by reference in its entirety for all purposes), calcium phosphate transformation (e.g., Kingston, Chen and Okayama (2001) Current Protocols in Molecular Biology Appendix 1C; DOI: 10.1002/0471142301.nsa01cs01, which is incorporated by reference in its entirety for all purposes), calcium chloride and polyethylene glycol (PEG) to introduce recombinant DNA into microalgal cells (see Kim et al., (2002) Mar. Biotechnol. 4:63-73, which reports the use of this method to transform Chlorella ellipsoidea protoplasts, and which is incorporated by reference in its entirety for all purposes), cell-penetrating peptides (e.g., Copolovici, Langel, Eriste, and Langel (2014) ACS Nano 2014 8 (3), 1972-1994; DOI: 10.1021/nn4057269, which is incorporated by reference in its entirety for all purposes), electroporation (e.g Potter (2001) Current Protocols in Molecular Biology unit 10.15; DOI: 10.1002/0471142735.im1015s03 and Kim et al (2014) Genome 1012-19. doi:10.1101/gr.171322.113, Kim et al. 2014 describe the Amaza Nucleofector, an optimized electroporation system, both of these references are incorporated by reference in their entirety for all purposes), microinjection(e.g., McNeil (2001) Current Protocols in Cell Biology unit 20.1; DOI: 10.1002/0471143030.cb2001sl8, which is incorporated by reference in its entirety for all purposes), liposome or cell fusion (e.g., Hawley-Nelson and Ciccarone (2001) Current Protocols in Neuroscience Appendix 1F; DOI: 10.1002/0471142301.nsa01fs10, which is incorporated by reference in its entirety for all purposes), mechanical manipulation (e.g. Sharon et al. (2013) PNAS 2013 110(6); DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1218705110, which is incorporated by reference in its entirety for all purposes), biolistic methods (see, for example, Sanford, Trends in Biotech. (1988) 6: 299 302, U.S. Pat. No. 4,945,050, which is incorporated by reference in its entirety for all purposes), Lithium Acetate/PEG transformation (Gietz and Woods (2006) Methods Mol. Biol. 313, 107-120) and its modifications, which is incorporated by reference in its entirety for all purposes, or other well-known techniques for delivery of nucleic acids to host cells. Once introduced, the nucleic acids of the invention can be expressed episomally, or can be integrated into the genome of the host cell using well known techniques such as recombination (e.g., Lisby and Rothstein (2015) Cold Spring Harb Perspect Biol. Mar 2; 7(3). pii: a016535. doi: 10.1101/cshperspect.a016535, which is incorporated by reference in its entirety for all purposes), non-homologous integration (e.g., Deyle and Russell (2009) Curr Opin Mol Ther. 2009 August; 11(4):442-7, which is incorporated by reference in its entirety for all purposes) or transposition (as described above for mobile genetic elements). The efficiency of homologous and non-homologous recombination can be facilitated by genome editing technologies that introduce targeted single or double-stranded breaks (DSB). Examples of DSB-generating technologies are CRISPR/Cas9, TALEN, Zinc-Finger Nuclease, or equivalent systems (e.g., Cong et al. Science 339.6121 (2013): 819-823, Li et al. Nucl. Acids Res (2011): gkr188, Gaj et al. Trends in Biotechnology 31.7 (2013): 397-405, all of which are incorporated by reference in their entirety for all purposes), transposons such as Sleeping Beauty (e.g., Singh et al (2014) Immunol Rev. 2014 January; 257(1):181-90. doi: 10.1111/imr.12137, which is incorporated by reference in its entirety for all purposes), targeted recombination using, for example, FLP recombinase (e.g., O'Gorman, Fox and Wahl Science (1991) 15:251(4999):1351-1355, which is incorporated by reference in its entirety for all purposes), CRE-LOX (e.g., Sauer and Henderson PNAS (1988): 85; 5166-5170), or equivalent systems, or other techniques known in the art for integrating the nucleic acids of the invention into the eukaryotic cell genome.

Chemical means for introducing a polynucleotide into a host cell include colloidal dispersion systems, such as macromolecule complexes, nanocapsules, microspheres, beads, and lipid-based systems including oil-in-water emulsions, micelles, mixed micelles, and liposomes. An exemplary colloidal system for use as a delivery vehicle in vitro and in vivo is a liposome (e.g., an artificial membrane vesicle). Other methods of state-of-the-art targeted delivery of nucleic acids are available, such as delivery of polynucleotides with targeted nanoparticles or other suitable sub-micron sized delivery system.

Techniques for transforming a wide variety of higher plant species are well known and described in the technical and scientific literature. See, e.g., Weising (1988) Ann. Rev. Genet. 22:421-477; U.S. Pat. No. 5,750,870, which are both incorporated by reference in their entirety for all purposes.

Methods of Making Neurotransmitters

Microalgae can be engineered with the above described enzymes so as to create biosynthetic pathways in the microalgae that can produce neurotransmitters. Micro algae can be engineered with nucleic acids encoding polypeptides of SEQ ID NO: 1, SEQ ID NO: 2, SEQ ID NO: 3, SEQ ID NO: 4, SEQ ID NO: 5, SEQ ID NO: 6, SEQ ID NO: 7, and/or nucleic acids encoding enzymes related to any of hexanoyl-CoA synthetase/butyryl-CoA synthetase, 3,5,7-trioxododecanoyl-CoA synthase/3,5,7-trioxodecanoyl-CoA synthase, 3,5,7-trioxododecanoyl-CoA CoA-lyase, geranyl-diphosphate:olivetolate geranyltransferase, cannabichromenic acid synthase, cannabidiolic-acid synthase, and/or Δ1-tetrahydrocannabinolic acid synthase as described above. Nucleic acids encoding the foregoing enzyme(s) are engineered into appropriate constructs, and these constructs are placed into microalgae using appropriate methods described above.

In some embodiments, microalgae engineered as described above are grown under suitable conditions and in the presence of hexanoic acid to make CBGA and from CBGA to make CBCA, CBDA and/or THCA. In an alternative embodiment, the microalgae utilize butanoic acid to make CBGVA and from CBGVA to make CBCVA, CBDVA, and THCVA.

In some embodiments, Prototheca is engineered with nucleic acids that have Prototheca control regions (promoters) described above operably linked to nucleic acids that are codon optimized for Prototheca and encode SEQ ID NO: 1-7, 1-5, 1-4 and 6, or 1-4 and 7. These engineered Prototheca are grown under suitable nutrient conditions and fed hexanoic acid to make CBGA and from CBGA to make CBCA, CBDA and/or THCA. In an alternative embodiment, the engineered Prototheca are fed butanoic acid to make CBGVA and from CBGVA to make CBCVA, CBDVA, and THCVA.

In an aspect, cannabinoids are extracted, and/or purified. Acidic cannabinoids can be extracted and/or purified. Neutral cannabinoids also can be extracted and/or purified. Another aspect includes heating and/or storing acidic cannabinoids to produce neutral cannabinoids.

Growth of Microalgae

The microalgae can be grown at any scale suitable for a particular purpose. For example, for large scale production of neurotransmitters, cultures can be grown on a large scale (e.g., 10,000 L, 40,000 L, 100,000 L or larger bioreactors) in a bioreactor. Microalgae (e.g., Prototheca) and other host cells (e.g., fungi, mammalian cells, or prokaryotic cells) are typically cultured in liquid media. The bioreactor or fermenter is used to culture microalgae cells through the various phases of their physiological cycle. Microalgae can be fermented in large quantities in liquid, such as in suspension cultures as an example. Bioreactors such as steel fermenters can accommodate very large culture volumes (40,000 liter and greater capacity bioreactors can be used). Bioreactors also typically allow for the control of culture conditions such as temperature, pH, oxygen tension, and carbon dioxide levels. For example, bioreactors are typically configurable, for example, using ports attached to tubing, to allow gaseous components, like oxygen or nitrogen, to be bubbled through a liquid culture. Other culture parameters, such as the pH of the culture media, the identity and concentration of trace elements, and other media constituents can also be more readily manipulated using a bioreactor.

Bioreactors can be configured to flow culture media though the bioreactor throughout the time period during which the microalgae grow and increase in number. In some embodiments, for example, media can be infused into the bioreactor after inoculation but before the cells reach a desired density. In other instances, a bioreactor is filled with culture media at the beginning of a culture, and no more culture media is infused after the culture is inoculated. In other words, the microalgae biomass is cultured in an aqueous medium for a period of time during which the microalgae reproduce and increase in number; however, quantities of aqueous culture medium are not flowed through the bioreactor throughout the time period. Thus in some embodiments, aqueous culture medium is not flowed through the bioreactor after inoculation.

Bioreactors equipped with devices such as spinning blades and impellers, rocking mechanisms, stir bars, means for pressurized gas infusion can be used to subject microalgae cultures to mixing. Mixing may be continuous or intermittent. For example, in some embodiments, a turbulent flow regime of gas entry and media entry is not maintained for reproduction of microalgae until a desired increase in number of said microalgae has been achieved.

Microalgae culture media typically contains components such as a fixed nitrogen source, a fixed carbon source, trace elements, optionally a buffer for pH maintenance, and phosphate (typically provided as a phosphate salt). Other components can include salts such as sodium chloride, particularly for seawater microalgae. Nitrogen sources include organic and inorganic nitrogen sources, including, for example, without limitation, molecular nitrogen, nitrate, nitrate salts, ammonia (pure or in salt form, such as, (NH₄)2SO₄ and NH₄OH), protein, soybean meal, cornsteep liquor, and yeast extract. Examples of trace elements include zinc, boron, cobalt, copper, manganese, and molybdenum in, for example, the respective forms of ZnCl₂, H₃BO₃, CoCl₆H₂O, CuCl₂.2H₂O, MnCl₂.4H₂O and (NH4)6Mo₇O₂₄.4H₂O.

Oils and Related Products, Lipid Production and Extraction

The host cells described herein include one or more exogenous genes encoding cannabinoid biosynthesis enzymes. Some host cells, e.g., microalgae, produce natural oils containing the cannabinoids that are not obtainable from a non-plant oil, or not obtainable at all.

The microalgae host cells can produce a storage oil, which can include hydrocarbons such as triacylglyceride that may be stored in storage bodies of the host cell as well as related products that can include, without limitation, phospholipids, tocopherols, tocotrienols, carotenoids (e.g., alpha-carotene, beta-carotene, lycopene, etc.), xanthophylls (e.g., lutein, zeaxanthin, alpha-cryptoxanthin and beta-crytoxanthin), cannabinoids, isoprenoids and various organic or inorganic compounds. A raw oil may be obtained from the cells by disrupting the cells and isolating the oil. See WO2008/151149, WO2010/06032, WO2011/150410, and WO2011/1504 which disclose heterotrophic cultivation and oil isolation techniques, and all of which are incorporated by reference in their entirety for all purposes. For example, oil may be obtained by cultivating, drying and pressing the cells. The oils produced may also be refined, bleached and deodorized (RBD) to remove phospholipids, free fatty acids and odors as known in the art or as described in WO2010/120939, which is incorporated by reference in its entirety for all purposes. The raw or RBD oils may be used in a variety of food, chemical, pharmaceutical, nutraceutical and industrial products or processes. After recovery of the oil, a valuable residual biomass remains. Uses for the residual biomass can include the production of paper, plastics, absorbents, adsorbents, as animal feed, for human nutrition, or for fertilizer.

The stable carbon isotope value δ13C is an expression of the ratio of 13C/12C relative to a standard (e.g. PDB, carbonite of fossil skeleton of Belemnite americana from Peedee formation of South Carolina). The stable carbon isotope value δ13C (0/00) of the oils can be related to the δ13C value of the feedstock used. The oils can be derived from oleaginous organisms heterotrophically grown on sugar derived from a C4 plant such as corn or sugarcane. The δ13C (0/00) of the oil can be from −10 to −17 0/00 or from −13 to −16 0/00.

The oils disclosed herein can be made by methods using a microalgal host cell. As described above, the microalga can be, without limitation, Chlorophyta, Trebouxiophyceae, Chlorellales, Chlorellaceae, or Chlorophyceae. It has been found that oils from microalgae of Trebouxiophyceae can be distinguished from vegetable oils based on their sterol profiles. Oil produced by Chlorella protothecoides can include sterols such as brassicasterol, ergosterol, campesterol, stigmasterol, and β-sitosterol. Sterols produced by Chlorella can have C24β stereochemistry. Microalgae oils can also include, for example, campesterol, stigmasterol, β-sitosterol, 22,23-dihydrobrassicasterol, proferasterol and clionasterol. Oils produced by the microalgae may be distinguished from plant oils by the presence of sterols with C24β stereochemistry and the absence of C24αstereochemistry in the sterols present. For example, the oils produced may contain 22,23-dihydrobrassicasterol while lacking campesterol; contain clionasterol, while lacking in β-sitosterol, and/or contain poriferasterol while lacking stigmasterol. Alternately, or in addition, the oils may contain significant amounts of Δ7-poriferasterol.

Oleaginous host cells expressing genes SEQ ID NO:1-7 can produce an oil with at least 1% of cannabinoid. The oleaginous host cell (e.g., microalgae) can produce an oil, cannabinoid, triglyceride, isoprenoid or derivative of any of these. These host cells can be made by transforming a cell with any of the nucleic acids discussed herein. The transformed cell can be cultivated to produce an oil and, optionally, the oil can be extracted. Oil extracted can be used to produce food, oleochemicals, nutraceuticals, pharmaceuticals or other products.

The oils discussed above alone or in combination can be useful in the production of foods, pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals, and chemicals. The oils, cannabinoids, isoprenoids, triglycerides can be subjected to decarboxilation, oxidation, light exposure, hydroamino methylation, methoxy-carbonation, ozonolysis, enzymatic transformations, epoxidation, methylation, dimerization, thiolation, metathesis, hydro-alkylation, lactonization, or other chemical processes. After extracting the oil, a residual biomass may be left, which may have use as a fuel, as an animal feed, or as an ingredient in paper, plastic, or other product.

The various cannabinoid oils can be tailored in for a mixture of specific cannabioids or their derivatives in order to adjust parameters such as biological and therapeutical efficacy, therapeutic index, potency, safety, bioavailability, permeability, as well as polarity and solvency of the oils or chemicals made from the oils. For the production of cannabinoids total lipids produced by cells can be harvested, or otherwise collected, by any convenient means. Lipids can be isolated by whole cell extraction. The cells can be first disrupted, and then intracellular and cell membrane/cell wall-associated lipids as well as extracellular hydrocarbons can be separated from the cell mass, such as by use of centrifugation. Intracellular lipids produced in microorganisms can be extracted after lysing the cells of the microorganism. Extracellular lipids can be isolated by separation from cell biomass, drying or directly extracted. Once extracted, lipids can be refined to produce oils, pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals, or oleochemicals.

After completion of culturing, the host cells can be separated from the fermentation broth. Optionally, the separation is effected by centrifugation to generate a concentrated paste. The biomass can then optionally be washed with a washing solution (e.g., deionized water) to get rid of the fermentation broth and debris. Optionally, the washed microbial biomass may also be dried (oven dried, lyophilized, etc.) prior to cell disruption. Alternatively, cells can be lysed without separation from some or all of the fermentation broth when the fermentation is complete. For example, the cells can be at a ratio of less than 1:1 v:v cells to extracellular liquid when the cells are lysed.

Host cells containing a lipid can be lysed to produce a lysate. The step of lysing a host cell (also referred to as cell lysis) can be achieved by any convenient means, including heat-induced lysis, adding a base, adding an acid, using enzymes such as proteases and polysaccharide degradation enzymes such as amylases, using ultrasound, mechanical lysis, using osmotic shock, infection with a lytic virus, and/or expression of one or more lytic genes. Lysis is performed to release intracellular molecules which have been produced by the host cell. Each of these methods for lysing a host cell can be used as a single method or in combination simultaneously or sequentially. The extent of host cell disruption can be observed by microscopic analysis. Typically more than 70% cell breakage is observed. Cell breakage can be more than 80%, more than 90%, or about 100%.

The host cells can be lysed after growth, for example to increase the exposure of cellular lipid and/or cannabionid for extraction or further processing. The timing of lipase expression (e.g., via an inducible promoter) or cell lysis can be adjusted to optimize the yield of lipids and/or cannabinoids. Below are described a number of lysis techniques. These techniques can be used individually or in combination.

The step of lysing a host cell can comprises heating of a cellular suspension containing the host cell. The fermentation broth containing the host cell (or a suspension of host cells isolated from the fermentation broth) is heated until the host cells, i.e., the cell walls and membranes of host cells degrade or breakdown. Typically, temperatures applied are at least 50° C. Other temperatures, such as, at least 30° C. at least 60° C., at least 70° C., at least 80° C., at least 90° C., at least 100° C., at least 110° C., at least 120° C., at least 130° C. or higher can be used for more efficient cell lysis. Lysing cells by heat treatment can be performed by boiling the host cell. Alternatively, heat treatment (without boiling) can be performed in an autoclave. The heat treated lysate may be cooled for further treatment. Cell disruption can also be performed by steam treatment, i.e., through addition of pressurized steam. Steam treatment of microalgae for cell disruption is described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,750,048, which is incorporated by reference in its entirety for all purposes. Steam treatment may be achieved by sparging steam into the fermentor and maintaining the broth at a desired temperature for less than about 90 minutes, less than about 60 minutes, or less than about 30 minutes.

The step of lysing a host cell can also be done by adding a base to a cellular suspension containing the host cell. The base should be strong enough to hydrolyze at least a portion of the proteinaceous compounds of the host cell. Bases which are useful for solubilizing proteins are known in the art of chemistry. Exemplary bases include, but are not limited to, hydroxides, carbonates and bicarbonates of lithium, sodium, potassium, calcium, and mixtures thereof. One base that can be used is KOH. Base treatment of microalgae for cell disruption is described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,750,048, which is incorporated by reference for all purposes.

The step of lysing a host cell can include adding an acid to a cellular suspension containing the host cell. Acid lysis can be effected using an acid at a concentration of 10-500 mN or preferably 40-160 nM. Acid lysis can be performed at above room temperature (e.g., at 40-160°, and preferably a temperature of 30-180°. For moderate temperatures (e.g., room temperature to 100° C. and particularly room temperature to 65°, acid treatment can usefully be combined with sonication or other cell disruption methods.

The step of lysing a host cell can also involve lysing the host cell by using an enzyme. Enzymes for lysing a microorganism can be proteases and polysaccharide-degrading enzymes such as hemicellulase (e.g., hemicellulase from Aspergillus niger; Sigma Aldrich, St. Louis, Mo.; #H2125), pectinase (e.g., pectinase from Rhizopus sp.; Sigma Aldrich, St. Louis, Mo.; #P2401), Mannaway 4.0 L (Novozymes), cellulase (e.g., cellulose from Trichoderma viride; Sigma Aldrich, St. Louis, Mo.; #C9422), and driselase (e.g., driselase from Basidiomycetes sp.; Sigma Aldrich, St. Louis, Mo.; #D9515).

Lysis can also be accomplished using an enzyme such as, for example, a cellulase such as a polysaccharide-degrading enzyme, optionally from Chlorella or a Chlorella virus, or a protease, such as Streptomyces griseus protease, chymotrypsin, proteinase K, proteases listed in Degradation of Polylactide by Commercial Proteases, Oda Y et al., Journal of Polymers and the Environment, Volume 8, Number 1, January 2000, pp. 29-32(4), Alcalase 2.4 FG (Novozymes), and Flavourzyme 100 L (Novozymes). Any combination of a protease and a polysaccharide-degrading enzyme can also be used, including any combination of the preceding proteases and polysaccharide-degrading enzymes.

The step of lysing a host can be performed using ultrasound, i.e., sonication. Thus, host cells can also by lysed with high frequency sound. The sound can be produced electronically and transported through a metallic tip to an appropriately concentrated cellular suspension. This sonication (or ultrasonication) disrupts cellular integrity based on the creation of cavities in cell suspension.

Lysis can be performed using an expeller press. In this process, biomass is forced through a screw-type device at high pressure, lysing the cells and causing the intracellular lipid to be released and separated from the protein and fiber (and other components) in the cell.

The step of lysing a host cell can be performed by mechanical lysis. Cells can be lysed mechanically and optionally homogenized to facilitate hydrocarbon (e.g., lipid) collection. For example, a pressure disrupter can be used to pump a cell containing slurry through a restricted orifice valve. High pressure (up to 1500 bar) can be applied, followed by an instant expansion through an exiting nozzle. Cell disruption can be accomplished by three different mechanisms: impingement on the valve, high liquid shear in the orifice, and sudden pressure drop upon discharge, causing an explosion of the cell. The method releases intracellular molecules. Alternatively, a ball mill can be used. In a ball mill, cells are agitated in suspension with small abrasive particles, such as beads. Cells break because of shear forces, grinding between beads, and collisions with beads. The beads disrupt the cells to release cellular contents. Cells can also be disrupted by shear forces, such as with the use of blending (such as with a high speed or Waring blender as examples), the french press, or even centrifugation in case of weak cell walls, to disrupt cells.

The step of lysing a host cell can also be performed by applying an osmotic shock.

The step of lysing a host cell can be accomplished with an infection of the host cell with a lytic virus. A wide variety of viruses are known to lyse host cells, and the selection and use of a particular lytic virus for a particular host cell is known. For example, paramecium bursaria Chlorella virus (PBCV-1) is the prototype of a group (family Phycodnaviridae, genus Chlorovirus) of large, icosahedral, plaque-forming, double-stranded DNA viruses that replicate in, and lyse, certain unicellular, eukaryotic Chlorella-like green algae. Accordingly, any susceptible microalgae can be lysed by infecting the culture with a suitable Chlorella virus. Methods of infecting species of Chlorella with a Chlorella virus are known. See for example Adv. Virus Res. 2006; 66:293-336; Virology, 1999 Apr. 25; 257(1):15-23; Virology, 2004 Jan. 5; 318(1):214-23; Nucleic Acids Symp. Ser. 2000; (44):161-2; J. Virol. 2006 March; 80(5):2437-44; and Annu. Rev. Microbiol. 1999; 53:447-94, all of which are incorporated by reference in their entirety for all purposes.

The step of lysing a host cell can use autolysis. Host cells can be genetically engineered to produce a lytic protein at a desired time so that the host cell lyses after expression of the lytic protein. The lytic gene can be expressed using an inducible promoter so that the cells can first be grown to a desirable density in a fermentor, followed by induction of the promoter to express the lytic gene to lyse the cells. The lytic gene can encode a polysaccharide-degrading enzyme, or a lytic gene from a lytic virus. For example, a lytic gene from a Chlorella virus can be expressed in an algal cell; see Virology 260, 308-315 (1999); FEMS Microbiology Letters 180 (1999) 45-53; Virology 263, 376-387 (1999); and Virology 230, 361-368 (1997), all of which are incorporated by reference in their entirety for all purposes. Expression of lytic genes can be done using an inducible promoter, such as a promoter active in microalgae that is induced by a stimulus such as the presence of a small molecule, light, heat, and other stimuli.

Various methods are available for separating lipids from cellular lysates produced by the above methods. For example, lipids and lipid derivatives such as cannabinoids, cannabinoid acids, aldehydes, alcohols, and hydrocarbons such as isoprenoids can be extracted with a hydrophobic solvent such as hexane (see Frenz et al. 1989, Enzyme Microb. Technol., 11:717, which is incorporated by reference in its entirety for all purposes), heptane or butane. Lipids and lipid derivatives can also be extracted using liquefaction (see for example Sawayama et al. 1999, Biomass and Bioenergy 17:33-39 and Inoue et al. 1993, Biomass Bioenergy 6(4):269-274, which are each incorporated by reference in their entirety for all purposes); oil liquefaction (see for example Minowa et al. 1995, Fuel 74(12):1735-1738, which is incorporated by reference in its entirety for all purposes); and supercritical CO2 extraction (see for example Mendes et al. 2003, Inorganica Chimica Acta 356:328-334, which is incorporated by reference in its entirety for all purposes). Miao and Wu describe a protocol of the recovery of microalgal lipid from a culture of Chlorella prototheocoides in which the cells were harvested by centrifugation, washed with distilled water and dried by freeze drying. The resulting cell powder was pulverized in a mortar and then extracted with n-hexane (Miao and Wu, Biosource Technology (2006) 97:841-846, which is incorporated by reference in its entirety for all purposes).

Lipids, lipid derivatives and hydrocarbons generated by the host cells can be recovered by extraction with an organic solvent. The organic solvent can be hexane or heptane. The organic solvent can be added directly to the lysate without prior separation of the lysate components or to the whole cell broth. The lysate generated by one or more of the methods described above can be contacted with an organic solvent for a period of time sufficient to allow the lipid and/or hydrocarbon components to form a solution with the organic solvent. The solution can then be further refined to recover specific desired lipid or hydrocarbon components. Hexane or heptane extraction methods can be used.

Lipids and lipid derivatives, cannabinoid acids, alcohols, and hydrocarbons such as isoprenoids can be produced by host cells after modification of the host cells by the use of one or more enzymes, including a cannabinoid synthase. When cannabioids are in the extracellular environment of the cells, the one or more enzymes can be added to that environment under conditions in which the enzyme modifies the cannabinoid or completes its synthesis from a cannabinoid precursor. Alternatively, cannabinoids can be partially, or completely, isolated from the cellular material before addition of one or more catalysts such as enzymes. Such catalysts are exogenously added, and their activity occurs outside the cell or in vitro.

Cannabinoids, hydrocarbons and other lipid produced by cells in vivo, or enzymatically modified in vitro, as described herein can be optionally further processed by conventional means. The processing can include “cracking” to reduce the size of the molecules through decarboxylation, and thus increase the hydrogen:carbon ratio, of hydrocarbon molecules. Catalytic and thermal cracking methods are routinely used in cannabinoid, hydrocarbon and triglyceride oil processing. Catalytic methods may involve the use of a catalyst, such as a solid acid catalyst, cofactor, solvent, oxygen or light, which could lead to the heterolytic, or asymmetric, breakage of a carbon-carbon bond and/or result in oxidation. Hydrocarbons can also be processed to reduce, optionally to zero, the number of carbon-carbon double, or triple, bonds therein. Hydrocarbons can also be processed to remove or eliminate or add a ring or cyclic structure therein. Hydrocarbons can also be processed to increase the hydrogen:carbon ratio. This can include the addition of hydrogen (“hydrogenation”) and/or the “cracking” of hydrocarbons into smaller hydrocarbons.

Thermal methods involve the use of elevated temperature and pressure to reduce hydrocarbon size via decarboxylation. An elevated temperature of about 15-180° C. and pressure of about 4,000-70,000 kPa can be used. Thermal methods are standard in cannabinoid processing and oil refining. Cannabinoid hydrocarbons produced by host cells can be collected and processed or refined via conventional means. Decarboxylation converts THCA into a number of cannabinoid compounds, most notably Δ9-THC, cannabinolic acid CBNA and cannabinol CBN; decarboxylation of CBDA most notably results in cannabidiol CBD, and of CBGA in cannabigerol CBG. The methods of decarboxylating cannabinoids are known, see US patent application US20150152018A1 and US20120046352A1, which are incorporated by reference for all purposes in their entirety. The fraction can be treated with another catalyst, such as an organic compound, heat, and/or an inorganic compound resulting in additional cannabinoids and their derivatives.

Uses of Neurotransmitters

The neurotransmitters made above can be used to treat inflammation (anti-inflammatory and anto-oxidant), nausea (anti-emetic), and/or pain (analgesia, antinociceptive). The neurotransmitters can also be used as a sedative. Cannabinoids and their derivatives can be used, for example, to treat chronic pain, nausea and vomiting due to chemotherapy, spasticity due to multiple sclerosis or paraplegia, depression, anxiety disorder, addiction, sleep disorder, psychosis, glaucoma, stimulate appetite in HIV/AIDS, obesity, diabetes, inflammation, body temperature, certain cancers, epilepsy and seizures, movement disorders (e.g. Huntington's disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), Alzheimer's, and/or Tourette syndrome.

Cannabinoids can act at the 5-HT1A (hydroxytryptamine) serotonin receptor, implicated in a range of biological and neurological processes, including but not limited to anxiety, addiction, appetite, sleep, pain reception, nausea and vomiting; the vanilloid receptors such as TRPV1, which also functions as ion channel, and is known to mediate pain perception, inflammation, and body temperature; the orphan receptors, such as G protein-coupled receptors GPR55, which plays a role in cancer, GPR119, implicated in obesity and diabetes, and GPR18, implicated in anti-inflammatory effects; the peroxisome proliferator activated receptors (PPARs), involved in various metabolic functions with PPAR-gamma implicated in anti-cancer effects and degradation of amylod-beta plaque, which is linked to the development of Alzheimer's disease.

Cannabinoids can compete with endogenous cannabinoids for fatty acid binding proteins (FABP), which escort various lipid molecules intracellularly and across cell membranes, resulting in inhibition of reuptake and breakdown of endogenous cannabinoids in synapses, or adenosine, which in turn results in increased activity of A1A and A2A adenosine receptors.

Cannabinoids can also function as allosteric receptor modulators, either enhancing or inhibiting signal transmission by changing the shape of the receptor. Examples include positive allosteric modulation of the GABA-A receptor, and negative allosteric modulation of the cannabinoid CB1 receptor.

The neurotransmitters, cannabinoids or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, may be formulated for administration in a variety of ways. In some embodiments, the neurotransmitters, cannabinoids or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof can be formulated with a biologically acceptable medium, such as water, buffered saline, polyol (for example, glycerol, propylene glycol, liquid polyethylene glycol and the like), triglyceride oil or suitable mixtures thereof. The neurotransmitters, cannabinoids or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, may be formulated as solid pharmaceutical preparations in a usual dosage form, typically, in the dosage form of powders, granules, surface-coated granules, capsules, tablets or surface-coated tablets. In some embodiments, a granulation step is used in which a humectant can be added as a stabilizer and optionally, an auxiliary agent for manufacturing a pharmaceutical preparation are added to bulk powders and the resulting mixture is granulated by means of a granulator, the encapsulation step in which the resulting granular powders are encapsulated under compression by means of a capsule filler or the tableting step in which the resulting granular powders are compressed by means of a tablet machine and, if desired, the coating step in which the granular powders, tablets or granules obtained in the preceding steps are surface-coated.

As used herein, “biologically acceptable medium” includes any and all solvents, dispersion media, and the like which may be appropriate for the desired route of administration of the pharmaceutical preparation. Suitable vehicles and their formulation are described, for example, in the book Remington's Pharmaceutical Sciences (Remington's Pharmaceutical Sciences. Mack Publishing Company, Easton, Pa., USA 1985), which is incorporated by reference in its entirety for all purposes.

The inventions disclosed herein will be better understood from the experimental details which follow. However, one skilled in the art will readily appreciate that the specific methods and results discussed are merely illustrative of the inventions as described more fully in the claims which follow thereafter. Unless otherwise indicated, the disclosure is not limited to specific procedures, materials, or the like, as such may vary. It is also to be understood that the terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting.

EXAMPLES Example 1. Biosynthesis of Olivetolic and Divarinic Acids

The three Cannabis sativa genes (SEQ ID NO: 1-3) of Example 1 were synthesized in a codon-optimized form to reflect Prototheca moriformis codon usage. A transforming construct and the sequences of the genes are provided in SEQ ID NO: 8 [pUR17001]. Transgenic strains were generated via transformation of the base strain P006 (Prototheca moriformis UTEX 1435) with a construct encoding all three genes. Construct pUR17001 can be written as DAO1_5′::CrBTUBp-NPTII-PmPGH:PmACP1p-CsHCS1-PmHSP90:PmSAD2p-CsOAS-CvNR:PmAMT3p-CsTKS-PmPGH::DAO1_3′. The 5′ and 3′ ends of the construct represent genomic DNA from Prototheca moriformis that target integration of the construct to the D-aspartate oxidase (DAO1) locus via homologous recombination. Proceeding in the 5′ to 3′ direction, the selection cassette has the Chlamydomonas reinhardtii β-tubulin promoter driving expression of the Escherichia coli neomycin phosphotransferse gene NPTII (conferring the resistance to antibiotic G418) and the Prototheca moriformis 2-phospho-D-glycerate hydroylase (PGH) gene 3′ UTR. The second expression cassette containing the codon optimized hexanoyl-CoA synthetase/butyryl-CoA synthetase gene from Cannabis sativa (CsHCS, SEQ ID NO: 1) is driven by the Prototheca moriformis acyl carrier protein (ACP1) promoter and has the Prototheca moriformis heat shock protein (HSP90) gene 3′ UTR. The third expression cassette containing the codon optimized 3,5,7-trioxododecanoyl-CoA CoA-lyase (olivetolic acid synthase) gene from Cannabis sativa (CsOAS, SEQ ID NO: 3) is driven by the P. moriformis stearoyl-ACP desaturase (SAD2) promoter and has the Chlorella vulgaris nitrate reductase (NR) gene 3′ UTR. The final expression cassette containing the codon optimized 3,5,7-trioxododecanoyl-CoA synthase/3,5,7-trioxodecanoyl-CoA synthase (tetraketide synthase) gene from Cannabis sativa (CsTKS, SEQ ID NO: 2) is driven by the P. moriformis ammonium transporter (AMT3) promoter and has the Prototheca moriformis 2-phospho-D-glycerate hydroylase (PGH) gene 3′ UTR. The pUR0001 construct encoding all three heterologous Cannabis sativa genes was transformed into a Prototheca strain and transformed cells were selected for the ability to grow in the presence of antibiotic G418. Transformations, cell culture, and gene expression analysis were all carried out as in WO2013/158938. Multiple transformations were performed. Positive transformation clones are identified at each step using Southern blot assays and/or RT-PCR to identify clones that are expressing mRNA encoding SEQ ID NO: 1-3.

Positive clones obtained after the expression constructs for SEQ ID NO: 1-3 are incorporated into Prototheca moriformis and are grown under nitrogen-replete conditions in the presence of hexanoic (hexanoate) and/or butyric (butanoate) acids and analyzed for olivetolic or divarinic acid production, respectively. The biomass is extracted via solvent extraction or using an expeller press and is analyzed for lipid profile. Olivetolic and/or divarinic acid production are determined using standard GC/FID analysis.

Example 2. Method for Making CBGA, CBCA, CBDA, THCA, CBGVA, CBCVA, CBDVA, and THCVA Cannabinoids

The four cannabinoid genes of Example 2 were synthesized in a codon-optimized form to reflect Prototheca moriformis codon usage. A representative construct to synthesize CBGA and the sequence of the Cannabis sativa geranyl-diphosphate:olivetolate geranyltransferase (prenyl transferase, “CsPT1”, SEQ ID NO: 4) is provided in SEQ ID NO: 9 [pUR17002]. The CBGA-synthesizing prenyl transferases were synthesized with either native (SEQ ID NO: 4), “CsPT1tp”, or with modified transit peptides from Chlorella protothecoides (Cp) (SEQ ID NO: 11) or Prototheca moriformis (SEQ ID NO: 12, 13, and 14) in place of the native transit peptide. The modified transit peptides derived from the CpSAD1 gene, “CpSAD1tp”, from PmSAD1 gene, “PmSAD1tp”, from PmHDR gene, “PmHDRtp”, from PmFAD2 gene, “PmFAD2tp”, were synthesized as an in-frame, N-terminal fusions to the CBGA prenyl transferase in place of the native transit peptide. Transgenic strains were generated via transformation of the pUR17001-transformed Prototheca moriformis strain producing olivetolic and/or divarinic acid (Example 1) with a construct encoding CBGA prenyl transferase gene, such as pUR17002. Construct pUR17002 can be written as PDR1_5′::PmLDH1p-AtThiC-PmHSP90:PmSAD2p-CsPT1tp-CsPT1-PmHSP90::PDR1_3′. The 5′ and 3′ ends of the construct represent genomic DNA from Prototheca moriformis that target integration of the construct to the PDR1 locus via homologous recombination. Proceeding in the 5′ to 3′ direction, the selection cassette has the Prototheca moriformis lactate dehydrogenase (LDH1) gene promoter driving expression of the Arabidopsis thaliana phosphomethylpyrimidine synthase (ThiC) gene (complementing thiamine auxotrophy) and the Prototheca moriformis heat shock protein (HSP90) gene 3′ UTR. The second expression cassette containing the codon optimized prenyl transferase gene from Cannabis sativa (CsPT1, SEQ ID NO: 4) fused to the native Cannabis sativa CsPT1 plastid-targeting transit peptide, CsPT1tp, is driven by the Prototheca moriformis acyl carrier protein (ACP1) promoter and has the Prototheca moriformis heat shock protein (HSP90) gene 3′ UTR.

To synthesize CBDA, THCA and CBCA, cannabinoids derived from CBGA, or CBDVA, THCVA, and CBCVA, cannabinoids derived from CBGVA, the correspondent cannabinoid synthase genes were coexpressed with CsPT1 prenyl transferase. A representative transforming construct and the sequence of the corresponding cannabinoid synthase is provided in SEQ ID NO: 10 [pUR17003], using CBDA synthase as an example. Identical methods were used to generate each of the remaining constructs encoding the different corresponding cannabinoid synthases, THCA and CBCA synthases. The CBDA, THCA and CBCA synthases were synthesized without native N-terminal secretion targeting signal peptides. Transgenic strains were generated via transformation of the pUR17001-transformed Prototheca moriformis strain producing olivetolic and/or divarinic acid (Example 1) with constructs encoding CBDA, THCA, CBCA synthase genes, such as in pUR17003. Construct pUR17003 can be written as PDR1-5′::PmLDH1p-AtThiC-PmHSP90:PmSAD2p-CsPT1tp-CsPT1-CvNR:PmAMT3p-CsCBDAS-PmHSP90::PDR1_3′. The 5′ and 3′ ends of the construct represent genomic DNA from Prototheca moriformis that target integration of the construct to the PDR1 locus via homologous recombination. Proceeding in the 5′ to 3′ direction, the selection cassette has the Prototheca moriformis lactate dehydrogenase (LDH1) gene promoter driving expression of the Arabidopsis thaliana phosphomethylpyrimidine synthase (ThiC) gene (complementing thiamine auxotrophy) and the Prototheca moriformis heat shock protein (HSP90) gene 3′ UTR. The second expression cassette containing the codon optimized prenyl transferase gene from Cannabis sativa (CsPT1, SEQ ID NO: 4) fused to the native Cannabis sativa CsPT1 plastid-targeting transit peptide, CsPT1tp, is driven by the Prototheca moriformis acyl carrier protein (ACP1) promoter and has the Chlorella vulgaris nitrate reductase (NR) gene 3′ UTR. The third expression cassette containing the codon optimized CBDA synthase gene from Cannabis sativa (CsCBDAS, SEQ ID NO: 6) without the native N-terminal secretion pathway targeting peptide, is driven by the Prototheca moriformis ammonium transporter (AMY3) promoter and has the Prototheca moriformis heat shock protein or in (HSP90) gene 3′ UTR.

The pUR17002 and pUR17003 constructs encoding representative prenyl transferase and cannabinoid synthase genes were transformed into a native Prototheca strain or pUR17001-transformed Prototheca moriformis strain that synthesizes olivetolic and/or divarinic acid (Example 1) and transformed cells were selected for the ability to grow in the absence of thiamine. Transformations, cell culture, and gene expression analysis were all carried out as in WO2013/158938. Multiple transformations were performed.

Positive clones obtained after the expression constructs for SEQ ID NO: 1-7 are incorporated into Prototheca moriformis are grown under nitrogen-replete conditions in the presence of hexanoic (hexanoate) and/or butyric (butanoate) acids and analyzed for CBGA, CBDA, THCA and CBCA, and/or CBGVA, CBDVA, THCVA, and CBCVA production, respectively. The biomass was extracted via solvent extraction or using an expeller press and was analyzed for lipid profile. Cannabinoid production and composition is determined by standard GC/FID analysis.

Example 3. Fermentation of Microalgae in the Presence of Carboxylic Acid

This example describes culturing of Prototheca moriformis (UTEX 1435) strain R2 in the presence of hexanoic (hexanoate) acid to test the impact of carboxylic acid on cell growth. Cryopreserved R2 cells were thawed at room temperature and 50 ul of cells were added to 5 ml of medium A2 (4.2 g/L K2HPO4, 3.1 g/L NaH2PO4, 0.24 g/L MgSO4.7H2O, 0.25 g/L Citric Acid monohydrate, 0.025 g/L CaCl2 2H2O, 2 g/L yeast extract), 100 mM PIPES pH7.0, supplemented with 2% glucose, trace minerals described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,900,370, and 1× Vitamin Cocktail (1000× solution): 9 g tricine, 0.67 g thiamine HCL, 0.01 g biotin, 0.008 g cyannocobalamin (vitamin B12), 0.02 g calcium pantothenate, 0.04 g p-aminobenzoic acid, and grown heterotrophically for 24 hrs at 28° C. with agitation (200 rpm) in a 15 ml tube. The 500 ul R2 aliquots were transferred into 10 ml fresh media and grown in the presence of 0, 1, 3 and 10 uM sodium hexanoate for 4 days in 50 ml fermentation bioreactor tubes. Samples from the cultures were pulled at 24, 48, 72 and 96 hours and growth was measured using A750 readings on a spectrophotometer. Growth was observed for each of the concentrations tested as shown in FIG. 1 establishing the feasibility of supplementing the fermentation growth media with carboxylic acids.

Example 4. Cannabinoid Isolation by Solvent Extraction and Characterization by Analytical Analysis

This example describes isolation of cannabinoids and total lipids from dried biomass using solvent extraction suitable for analytical analysis and downstream processing. Biomass from fermentation cultures was dried using lyophilization for 24 hours prior to cell disruption. Lipid samples were prepared from 10-40 mg of dried biomass by re-suspension in 100-200 ul of 100 mM Sodium citrate, pH 5.0 and extensive sonication. The mixture was then extracted with 450 ul of Acetone-heptane mix (1:9) and vigorous agitation. Samples were phase-separated by centrifugation at 20,000 g for 4 minutes and the portion of upper layer was transferred to a vial or another tube for subsequent use. For analytical analysis of cannabinoids, samples were processed by standard UHPLC-PDA/MS chromatography using Perkin Elmer Altus A-30 UPLC system with Brownlee SPP 2.7 mm C18 2.1×100 mm column. The reverse phase C18 column was developed with gradients 65-80% or 10-90% water-acetonitrile and 0.1% formic acid solvent system for detection and quantification of the biosynthetic intermediates and cannabinoids, respectively. Elution was monitored by photodiode array detection (PDA) over the range of 210-400 nm; MS scan was conducted in ES⁺ mode for masses between 150 to 850 Da. Analytical standards were used to establish calibration curve used in quantification of cannabinoids.

Example 5. Engineering Biosynthesis and Fermentation of Olivetolic Acid in Microalgae

The three Cannabis sativa genes, hexanoyl-CoA synthetase, 3,5,7-trioxododecnoyl-CoA synthase and 3,5,7-trioxododecanoyl-CoA CoA-lyse (SEQ ID NO: 1-3, respectively) were synthesized in a codon-optimized form to reflect Prototheca moriformis codon usage and used to make a construct pU092 (SEQ ID NO: 15). Construct pU092 can be written as DAO1_5′::PmLDH1p-CpSADtp_ThiC-PmPGH:PmAMT3p-CsOAS-PmHSP90:PmSAD2p-CsTKS-PmSAD2:PmACPp-CsHCS-PmPGH::DAO1_3′. The 5′ and 3′ ends of the construct represent genomic DNA from Prototheca moriformis that target integration of the construct to the D-aspartate oxidase (DAO1) locus via homologous recombination. Proceeding in the 5′ to 3′ direction, the selection cassette has the Prototheca moriformis lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) promoter driving expression of the Arabidopsis thaliana phosphomethylpyrimidine synthase (ThiC) gene (complementing thiamine auxotrophy) and the Prototheca moriformis 2-phospho-D-glycerate hydroylase (PGH) gene 3′ UTR. The second expression cassette containing the codon optimized 3,5,7-trioxododecanoyl-CoA CoA-lyase (olivetolic acid synthase) gene from Cannabis sativa (CsOAS, SEQ ID NO: 3) is driven by the P. moriformis ammonium transporter (AMT3) promoter and has the Prototheca moriformis heat shock protein (HSP90) gene 3′ UTR. The third expression cassette containing the codon optimized 3,5,7-trioxododecanoyl-CoA synthase/3,5,7-trioxodecanoyl-CoA synthase (tetraketide synthase) gene from Cannabis sativa (CsTKS, SEQ ID NO: 2) is driven by the P. moriformis stearoyl-ACP desaturase (SAD2) promoter and has the Prototheca moriformis stearoyl-ACP desaturase (SAD2) gene 3′ UTR. The final expression cassette containing the codon optimized hexanoyl-CoA synthetase/butyryl-CoA synthetase gene from Cannabis sativa (CsHCS, SEQ ID NO: 1) is driven by the Prototheca moriformis acyl carrier protein (ACP1) promoter and has the Prototheca moriformis 2-phospho-D-glycerate hydroylase (PGH) gene 3′ UTR.

Transgenic strains were generated via Lithium acetate/PEG transformation of the base strain R2 (Prototheca moriformis UTEX 1435) with a construct encoding all three genes. The pU092 construct encoding all three heterologous Cannabis sativa genes was transformed into a Prototheca R2 strain and primary transformants were selected on agar plates lacking thiamine. Transformations, cell culture, and gene expression analysis were all carried out as in WO2013/158938. Multiple transformations were performed. Positive transformation clones were verified by genomic PCR and/or RT-PCR to identify clones that are expressing mRNA encoding SEQ ID NO: 1-3.

Positive clones obtained after the expression construct pU092 for SEQ ID NO: 1-3 were incorporated into Prototheca moriformis R2 and were grown in A2 media as described in Example 3 for 48 hours. 120 ul of these cultures were transferred into 1.5 ml fresh A2 media modified to include 1.89 mM Ammonium sulfate, 4% glucose, 100 mM Pipes, pH 7.0, 1×Vitamin Cocktail lacking thiamine hydrochloride, and supplemented with 3 uM of sodium hexanoate. Fermentations were carried out for 5 days at 28° C. with agitation (200 rpm) in a 15 ml bioreactor tubes. Cells were fed with 3% glucose and 3 uM hexanoic acid after 72 hours. Total lipid samples were prepared from dried biomass from each transformant as described in Example 4 and products were analyzed using UHPLC-PDA/MS chromatography as described above.

As shown in FIG. 2, introduction of polynucleotide pU092 (SEQ ID NO: 15) into wild-type strain (FIG. 2A) results in production of olivetolic acid (m/z 225.16 Da) (FIG. 2B and FIG. 2C). The biosynthesis of olivetolic acid was confirmed by direct comparison of the new product with analytical standard based on identical HPLC elution time, UV spectra (λmax 220, 299, and 261), and the occurrence of the major ionized fragments (m/z 207.15 and 225.16 Da).

Example 6. Method for Making Acidic Cannabinoids: Engineering Biosynthesis and Fermentation in Microalgae

This example describes engineering and biosynthesis of major Cannabis sativa phytocannabinoid molecules in Prototheca moriformis UTEX1435: the cannabidiolic acid (CBDA), and Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinolic acid (THCA), both derived from a shared precursor, cannabigerolic acid (CBGA), through distinct biosynthetic reactions. Initially, we constructed a microalgae strain S1 expressing Geranyl-diphosphate:olivetolate geranyltransferase and Cannabidiolic acid synthase genes from Cannabis sativa (SEQ ID NO: 4 and 6, respectively) that encode enzymes converting olivetolic/divarinic acids stepwise into cannabigerolic/cannabigerovarinic (CBGA/CBGVA) and cannabidiolic/cannabidivarinic (CBDA/CBDVA) acids. A transforming construct and the sequences of the genes are provided in SEQ ID NO: 16 [pU061]. The cannabinoid genes were synthesized in a codon-optimized form to reflect Prototheca moriformis codon usage.

Construct pU061 can be written as Thi4_5′::PmHXT1-NeoR-CvNR:PmACP1p-CvCBDAS-PmHSP90:PmSAD2p-PmIPDStp-CsPT-SAD2::Thi4_3′. The 5′ and 3′ ends of the construct represent genomic DNA from Prototheca moriformis that target integration of the construct to the Thi4 (thiamine biosynthesis) locus via homologous recombination. Proceeding in the 5′ to 3′ direction, the selection cassette has the Prototheca moriformis hexose transporter (HXT1) promoter driving expression of the Escherichia coli neomycin phosphotransferse gene NPTII (conferring the resistance to antibiotic G418) and the Prototheca moriformis heat-shock protein (HSP90) gene 3′ UTR. The second expression cassette containing the codon optimized CBDA synthase gene from Cannabis sativa (CsCBDAS, SEQ ID NO: 6) without the native N-terminal secretion pathway targeting peptide, is driven by the Prototheca moriformis acyl carrier protein (ACP1) promoter and has the Prototheca moriformis heat shock protein or in (HSP90) gene 3′ UTR. The third expression cassette containing the codon optimized prenyl transferase gene from Cannabis sativa (CsPT1, SEQ ID NO: 4) fused to the Prototheca moriformis isopentenyl diphosphate synthase (IPDS) plastid-targeting transit peptide (SEQ ID NO: 13), is driven by the Prototheca moriformis Stearoyl ACP desaturase (SAD2) promoter and has the Prototheca moriformis Stearoyl ACP desaturase (SAD2) gene 3′ UTR.

Alternative versions of polynucleotide pU061 included additional forms of geranyl-diphosphate:olivetolate geranyltransferase (CsPT1) gene, synthesized with either native (SEQ ID NO: 4), CsPT1tp, or with modified plastid transit peptides from Chlorella protothecoides (Cp) (SEQ ID NO: 11) or Prototheca moriformis (SEQ ID NO: 12, and 14) in place of the native transit peptide. The modified transit peptides derived from the CpSAD1 gene, “CpSAD1tp”, from PmSAD1 gene, “PmSAD1tp”, from PmIPDS gene, “PmIPDStp”, from PmFAD2 gene, “PmFAD2tp”, were synthesized as an in-frame, N-terminal fusions to the CBGA/CBGVA prenyl transferase in place of the native transit peptide.

Transgenic strains were generated via transformation of Prototheca moriformis (UTEX1435) R2 strain with polynucleotide pU061 (SEQ ID NO: 16) using lithium acetate/PEG method and positive transformants were selected on solid agar plates in the presence of 100 μg/mL of antibiotic G418. Transformations, cell culture, and gene expression analysis were all carried out as in WO2013/158938 and as described above. Positive transformation clones were verified by genomic PCR and/or RT-PCR to identify clones that are expressing mRNA encoding SEQ ID NO: 4 and 6, and cryopreserved.

To generate microalgae strains capable of synthesizing CBDA, cryopreserved R2-pU061 strain S1 expressing high levels of CsPT1 and CsCBDAS genes (SEQ ID NO:16) was transformed with polynucleotide pU092 (SEQ ID NO: 15). Positive clones were identified as colonies growing on agar plates lacking thiamine in the presence of antibiotic G418. The organization and expression of five Cannabis genes was subsequently verified by genomic PCR and/or RT-PCR, and selected representative strains were cryopreserved.

Positive S1-pU092 clones obtained after the expression construct pU092 for SEQ ID NO: 1-3 is incorporated into Prototheca moriformis R2-pU61 strain S1 were grown in A2 media as described in Examples 3 and 5 for 48 hours. The 120 ul of these cultures were transferred into 1.5 ml fresh A2 media modified to include 1.89 mM Ammonium sulfate, 4% glucose, 100 mM Pipes, pH 7.0, 1×Vitamin Cocktail lacking thiamine hydrochloride, and supplemented with 3 uM of sodium hexanoate. Fermentations were carried out for 5 days at 28° C. with agitation (200 rpm) in a 15 ml bioreactor tubes. Cells were fed with 3% glucose and 3 uM hexanoic acid after 48 and 72 hours. Total lipid samples were prepared from dried biomass from each transformant as described in Example 4 and products were analyzed using UHPLC-PDA/MS chromatography as described above in Example 4.

As shown in FIG. 3, introduction of polynucleotide pU092 (SEQ ID NO: 15) into a strain co-expressing a polynucleotide pU061 (SEQ ID NO: 16) (FIG. 3A and FIG. 3B) results in accumulation of CBGA (m/z 361.5 Da) and CBDA (m/z 359.5) cannabinoids (FIG. 3C and FIG. 3D, respectively). Both compounds were confirmed by direct comparison with respective analytical standards based on identical HPLC elution time, UV spectra (CBDA: λmax 229, 268, and 305; CBDA: λmax 227, 268 and 306), and the occurrence of the major ionized fragments (CBGA: m/z 343.4 and 361.5 Da; CBDA: m/z 341.4 and 359.5).

These data demonstrate the utility of and effectiveness of recombinant polynucleotides permitting expression of Cannabis sativa genes CvHCS, CvOAS, CvTKC, CvPT1, and CvCBDAS to yield cannabinoids in engineered microorganisms, and in particular in regulating the production of CBGA and CBDA in microbial cells.

Identical methods were used to generate transformants expressing THCA and CBCA synthases. For example, a construct encoding THCA synthase pU064 is disclosed as SEQ ID NO: 17 and described below.

For THCA biosynthesis, we initially constructed a microalgae strain S2 expressing Geranyl-diphosphate:olivetolate geranyltransferase and Δ1-tetrahydrocannabinolic acid synthase genes from Cannabis sativa (SEQ ID NO: 4 and 7, respectively) that encode enzymes converting olivetolic/divarinic acids stepwise into cannabigerolic/cannabigerovarinic (CBGA/CBGVA) and Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinolic/Δ9-tetrahydrocannabivarinic (THCA/THCVA) acids. A transforming construct and the sequences of the genes are provided in SEQ ID NO: 17 [pU064]. The two cannabinoid genes were synthesized in a codon-optimized form to reflect Prototheca moriformis codon usage. Construct pU064 can be written as Thi4_5′::PmHXT1-NeoR-CvNR:PmACP1p-CsTHCAS-PmHSP90:PmSAD2p-PmIPDStp-CsPT-SAD2::Thi4_3′. The 5′ and 3′ ends of the construct represent genomic DNA from Prototheca moriformis that target integration of the construct to the Thi4 (thiamine biosynthesis) locus via homologous recombination. Proceeding in the 5′ to 3′ direction, the selection cassette has the Prototheca moriformis hexose transporter (HXT1) promoter driving expression of the Escherichia coli neomycin phosphotransferse gene NPTII (conferring the resistance to antibiotic G418) and the Prototheca moriformis heat-shock protein (HSP90) gene 3′ UTR. The second expression cassette containing the codon optimized THCA synthase gene from Cannabis sativa (CsTHCAS, SEQ ID NO: 7) without the native N-terminal secretion pathway targeting peptide, is driven by the Prototheca moriformis acyl carrier protein (ACP1) promoter and has the Prototheca moriformis heat shock protein or in (HSP90) gene 3′ UTR. The third expression cassette containing the codon optimized prenyl transferase gene from Cannabis sativa (CsPT1, SEQ ID NO: 4) fused to the Prototheca moriformis isopentenyl diphosphate synthase (IPDS) plastid-targeting transit peptide (SEQ ID NO: 13), is driven by the Prototheca moriformis Stearoyl ACP desaturase (SAD2) promoter and has the Prototheca moriformis Stearoyl ACP desaturase (SAD2) gene 3′ UTR.

Alternative versions of polynucleotide pU064 included additional forms of geranyl-diphosphate:olivetolate geranyltransferase (CsPT1) gene, synthesized with either native (SEQ ID NO: 4), “CsPT1tp”, or with modified plastid transit peptides from Chlorella protothecoides (Cp) (SEQ ID NO: 11) or Prototheca moriformis (SEQ ID NO: 12, and 14) in place of the native transit peptide. The modified transit peptides derived from the CpSAD1 gene, “CpSAD1tp”, from PmSAD1 gene, “PmSAD1tp”, from PmIPDS gene, “PmIPDStp”, from PmFAD2 gene, “PmFAD2tp”, were synthesized as an in-frame, N-terminal fusions to the CBGA/CBGVA prenyl transferase in place of the native transit peptide.

Transgenic strains were generated via transformation of Prototheca moriformis (UTEX1435) R2 strain with polynucleotide pU064 (SEQ ID NO: 17) using lithium acetate/PEG method and positive transformants were selected on solid agar plates in the presence of 100 μg/mL of antibiotic G418. Transformations, cell culture, and gene expression analysis were all carried out as in WO2013/158938 and as described above. Positive transformation clones were verified by genomic PCR and/or RT-PCR to identify clones that are expressing mRNA encoding SEQ ID NO: 4-7, and cryopreserved.

To generate microalgae strains capable of synthesizing THCA, cryopreserved R2-pU064 strain S2 expressing high levels of CsPT1 and CsTHCAS genes (SEQ ID NO: 17) was transformed with polynucleotide pU092 (SEQ ID NO: 15). Positive clones were identified as colonies growing on agar plates lacking thiamine in the presence of antibiotic G418. The organization and expression of five Cannabis genes was subsequently verified by genomic PCR and/or RT-PCR, and selected representative strains were cryopreserved.

Positive S2-pU092 clones obtained after the expression construct pU092 for SEQ ID NO: 1-3 is incorporated into Prototheca moriformis R2-pU64 strain S2 were grown in A2 media as described in Examples 1 and 3 for 48 hours. The 120 ul of these cultures were transferred into 1.5 ml fresh A2 media modified to include 1.89 mM Ammonium sulfate, 4% glucose, 100 mM Pipes, pH 7.0, 1×Vitamin Cocktail lacking thiamine hydrochloride, and supplemented with 3 uM of sodium hexanoate. Fermentations were carried out for 5 days at 28° C. with agitation (200 rpm) in a 15 ml bioreactor tubes. Cells were fed with 3% glucose and 3 uM hexanoic acid after 48 and 72 hours. Total lipid samples were prepared from dried biomass from each transformant as described in Example 2 and products were analyzed using UHPLC-PDA/MS chromatography as described above in Example 2.

As shown in FIG. 4, introduction of polynucleotide pU092 (SEQ ID NO: 15) into a strain co-expressing a polynucleotide pU064 (SEQ ID NO: 17) (FIG. 4A, FIG. 4B, and FIG. 4C) results in accumulation of THCA (m/z 359.5) and CBGA (m/z 361.5 Da) cannabinoids (FIG. 4D and FIG. 4E, respectively). Both compounds were confirmed by direct comparison with respective analytical standards based on identical HPLC elution time, UV spectra (CBDA: λmax 229, 268, and 305; THCA: λmax 227, 271 and 305), and the occurrence of the major ionized fragments (CBGA: m/z 343.4 and 361.5 Da; THCA: m/z 341.4 and 359.5). The cannabinoid profiles (expressed as % of total CBGA and THCA calculated using standards curves) of P. moriformis UTEX 1435 untransformed strain R2 and five positive transformants (strains R2-064-092-1 through 5) are presented in Table 2.

TABLE 2 Produciton of cannabinoids in Prototheca moriformis UTEX 1435 expressing Cannabis sativa cannabinoid biosynthetic genes Productivity, total Strain % CBGA % THCA cannabinoids, mg/L R2 0 0 — R2-064-092-1 3 97 5.4 R2-064-092-2 15 85 4.5 R2-064-092-3 7.7 92.3 3.1 R2-064-092-4 33 67 7.5 R2-064-092-5 30 70 8.8

As shown in Table 2, the impact of expression of Cannabis sativa cannabinoid biosynthetic genes is a clear accumulation of CBGA and THCA compounds in the transformed microorganisms. Most strains predominantly synthesised THCA, from 67% in the lowest to 97% in the highest producer, which is consistent with CvTHCAS gene acting as a final genetic step. While we observed variation in the CBGA/THCA composition, most strains (except R2-064-092-3) demonstrated comparable productivities with strain R2-064-092-5 yielding as high as 8.8 mg/L total cannabinoid titer.

These data demonstrate the utility of and effectiveness of recombinant polynucleotides permitting expression of Cannabis sativa genes CvHCS, CvOAS, CvTKC, CvPT1, and CvTHCAS to yield cannabinoids in engineered microarganisms, and in particular in regulating the production of CBGA and THCA in microbial cells.

Although various embodiments of the invention are disclosed herein, many adaptations and modifications may be made within the scope of the invention in accordance with the common general knowledge of those skilled in this art. Such modifications include the substitution of known equivalents for any aspect of the invention in order to achieve the same result in substantially the same way. Numeric ranges are inclusive of the numbers defining the range. The word “comprising” is used herein as an open-ended term, substantially equivalent to the phrase “including, but not limited to”, and the word “comprises” has a corresponding meaning. Citation of references herein is not an admission that such references are prior art to an embodiment of the present invention. Any priority document(s) and all publications, including but not limited to patents and patent applications, cited in this specification are incorporated herein by reference as if each individual publication were specifically and individually indicated to be incorporated by reference herein and as though fully set forth herein. The invention includes all embodiments and variations substantially as hereinbefore described and with reference to the examples and drawings. 

We claim:
 1. A Prototheca host cell comprising a first nucleic acid encoding a hexanoyl-CoA synthase, a second nucleic acid encoding a 3,5,7-trioxododecanoyl-CoA synthase, a third nucleic acid encoding an olivetolic acid cyclase (or 3,5,7-trioxododecanoyl-CoA CoA-lyase), and a fourth nucleic acid encoding a geranyl-diphosphate:olivetolate geranyltransferase, wherein the first, second, third and fourth nucleic acids are derived from Cannabis sativa, and wherein the first nucleic acid is operably linked to a control region, wherein the second nucleic acid is operably linked to a control region, wherein the third nucleic acid is operably linked to a control region, and wherein the fourth nucleic acid is operably linked to a control region.
 2. The Prototheca host cell of claim 1, wherein the microalgae host cell is a Prototheca microalgae host cell.
 3. The Prototheca host cell of claim 2, further comprising a fifth nucleic acid encoding a cannabichromenic acid synthase, and wherein the fifth nucleic acid is operably linked to a control region.
 4. The Prototheca host cell of claim 2, further comprising a fifth nucleic acid encoding a cannabidiolic-acid synthase, and wherein the fifth nucleic acid is operably linked to a control region.
 5. The Prototheca host cell of claim 2, further comprising a fifth nucleic acid encoding a Δ1-tetrahydrocannabinolic acid synthase, and wherein the fifth nucleic acid is operably linked to a control region.
 6. The Prototheca host cell of claim 3, further comprising a sixth nucleic acid encoding a cannabidiolic-acid synthase, and wherein the sixth nucleic acid is operably linked to a control region.
 7. The Prototheca host cell of claim 6, further comprising a seventh nucleic acid encoding a Δ1-tetrahydrocannabinolic acid synthase, and wherein the seventh nucleic acid is operably linked to a control region.
 8. The Prototheca host cell of claim 2, further comprising a hexanoic acid.
 9. The Prototheca host cell of claim 8, further comprising a cannabigerolic acid.
 10. The Prototheca host cell of claim 2, further comprising a butyric acid.
 11. The Prototheca host cell of claim 10, further comprising a cannabigerovarinic acid.
 12. The Prototheca host cell of claim 3, further comprising a hexanoic acid.
 13. The Prototheca host cell of claim 12, further comprising a cannabichromenic acid.
 14. The Prototheca host cell of claim 3, further comprising a butyric acid.
 15. The Prototheca host cell of claim 14, further comprising a cannabichromevarinic acid.
 16. The Prototheca host cell of claim 4, further comprising a hexanoic acid.
 17. The Prototheca host cell of claim 16, further comprising a cannabidiolic acid.
 18. The Prototheca host cell of claim 4, further comprising a butyric acid.
 19. The Prototheca host cell of claim 18, further comprising a cannabidivarinic acid.
 20. The Prototheca host cell of claim 5, further comprising a hexanoic acid. 